Erection of the 266-ton dish superstructure (BUS) for the 140-foot (43-meter) telescope in Green Bank, West Virginia in November, 1964. At one point the cranes and derricks gave out, dropping the BUS to the ground. It withstood the impact without damage, and the lift continued six days later with a necessary change to the crane arrangement. After this photo was taken, the BUS was pin-wheeled to bring the declination axis shaft (the bulge at the back of the BUS) directly on its yoke arm bearings (the black C-shaped structure). In the foreground are some of the 60 surface panel sections designed and manufactured by the D. S. Kennedy Company Division of Electronic Specialties. In the background is the focal feed support on its side, ready to be erected after the panels.
Assembling the Surface
In December of 1964, work began on installing the 60 aluminum surface panels of the 140-foot (43-meter) dish telescope. At the same time, the derricks and cranes used to lift the thousands of tons of structure were being dismantled. They had been familiar sights fin Green Bank, West Virginia for over six years.
Largest Polar-Aligned Telescope
The unique 140-foot telescope in Green Bank, West Virginia. This giant telescope took six years to design and construct, and then took the astronomical world by storm in its discoveries of organic molecules in space.
A 140-foot (43-meter) aluminum-clad parabolic dish antenna sits on the world’s largest polar-aligned mount. The rounded yoke swivels around the central axis of the telescope which is aligned perfectly with the rotational axes of the Earth. In this way, the telescope can easily track objects in the sky as they appear to rise and set from the Earth’s spin on its axis.
140-foot’s First Slew
In 1965, after the last aluminum panels were installed on its 140-foot dish, this giant radio telescope moved for the first time. This was our third major telescope in our Green Bank facility, and it is still working today under a more modern name, the 43-meter.
New Telescope Takes a Bow
When the 140-foot telescope was completed in Green Bank, West Virginia in 1965, it was soon painted a brilliant white. Radio telescopes are painted white in order to scatter sunlight away from the receivers and keep as little solar radiation as possible from warping the painstakingly accurate surface shapes. This telescope, now renamed the 43-meter, is still in operation.
Shiny White 140-foot Telescope
When the 140-foot (43-meter) telescope was completed in Green Bank, West Virginia in 1965, it was soon painted a brilliant white. Radio telescopes are painted white in order to scatter sunlight away from the receivers and keep as little solar radiation as possible from warping the painstakingly accurate surface shapes.