Photo – Page 59 – National Radio Astronomy Observatory

Traveling Feed

The 300-foot telescope in Green Bank, West Virginia observed cosmic radio sources by riding the Earth turning underneath them, bringing them into its field of view for about 40 seconds. The receiver feeds of the 300-foot were on a small mount that drove against the Earth’s direction of spin, letting them track cosmic radio sources for a few extra minutes of observing time before the spinning Earth dragged the telescope too far out from underneath the source. In this photo, workers are readying that traveling feed for installation.

Aerial View of a Field of Aerials

In Green Bank, West Virginia sits a field of 64 antennas made by our machinists. These antennas are searching the distant Universe for the first starlight the Cosmos ever produced, billions of years ago. The project is called PAPER, the Precision Array for Probing the Epoch of Reionization. It is a partnership between NRAO staff scientists and scientists at UC-Berkeley, the University of Virginia, the University of Pennsylvania, and the Square Kilometer Array of South Africa.

View from the Cherry Picker

Daryl Shinaberry rides the cherry picker in Green Bank, West Virginia as part of routine inspection and maintenance of the antennas. In the background is the 20-meter robotic telescope used for student research projects.

Drilling a Phase Shifter

Green Bank Machinist Roger Dickenson carefully guides the drill to place small holes into a gold electroplated phase shifter for a receiver. Almost every one of the components that went into the Very Large Array’s upgraded receivers could not be commercially purchased. This is true also for some bands of ALMA and all Green Bank Telescope (GBT) and Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA) receivers. Instead, the components were developed, measured and manufactured by the combined talents of the Central Development Lab, of which this machine shop is a critical part.

Computer-controlled Milling

Green Bank Machinist Roger Dickinson places the drill head of his milling machine exactly where he needs it, and then will tell the computer above him to use that as a guidepost for a set of precision holes on this phase guide.

Old Control Room of the VLA

Nostalgic photo telescope operator Linda Sowinski and the computers that once ran the Very Large Array in central New Mexico. A 25-meter antenna of the VLA is framed in the window.

The National Radio Astronomy Observatory is a facility of the U.S. National Science Foundation operated under cooperative agreement by Associated Universities, Inc.
	Founded in 1956, the NRAO provides state-of-the-art radio telescope facilities for use by the international scientific community. NRAO telescopes are open to all astronomers regardless of institutional or national affiliation. Observing time on NRAO telescopes is available on a competitive basis to qualified scientists after evaluation of research proposals on the basis of scientific merit, the capability of the instruments to do the work, and the availability of the telescope during the requested time. NRAO also provides both formal and informal programs in education and public outreach for teachers, students, the general public, and the media.
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