Every day at the Green Bank Science Center in West Virginia, staff give live presentations for our visitors. Sometimes, a demonstration requires a volunteer from the audience.
Making Waves
Visitors to the Green Bank Science Center can explore how waves change their frequency by cranking up or down the movement of this wave model. The more energy they put into the crank, the faster the wave changes, and the frequency is increased.
Not Just for Kids
The Green Bank Science Center in West Virginia has a hands-on activity center with exhibits explaining radio astronomy and its unique technology. The experience is fun for all ages!
Gazing Upon Our First Telescope
The newly assembled 85-foot Howard E. Tatel telescope in Green Bank, West Virginia was the first radio telescope of the NRAO and began observing on February 13, 1959. The Tatel became famous in 1960 for performing the world’s first SETI observations under the direction of Dr. Frank Drake.
Maintenance on High
A telescope engineer rides the traveling feed of the 300-foot telescope that used to be in Green Bank, West Virginia. The 300-foot telescope could not move across the sky, only dip itself up and down. This feed supported receivers on tracks that drove it from side to side above the dish, following the apparent motion of astronomical objects overhead caused by the turning of the Earth.
Operating the GBT
The control room of the Green Bank Telescope sits nearly two miles from the telescope in Green Bank, West Virginia. Astronomers can run their observations from here or remotely, but telescope operators are on duty around the clock. The room’s electronics are shielded inside copper walls and wire-meshed windows.