Inside the van used by staff to track down sources of radio frequency interference across the West Virginia countryside. Sophisticated receiver equipment nestles in racks, and in 1981-style, is decorated with wood paneling.
Little Big Horn
The Calibration Horn Antenna, nicknamed the “Little Big Horn,” at Green Bank in 1967. As its name implies, this 120-foot long horn antenna was used to measure the intensity of radio waves coming from the sky’s strongest non-solar radio source, Cassiopeia A. The Calibration Horn measured a total power output for Cas A at a frequency of 1.4 GHz (a wavelength of 20cm), and thus provided astronomers with a standard reference point on the sky against which they could measure other sources.
Tab A Goes Into Slot A
The backup structure of the Green Bank Telescope is an engineering marvel. This crisscross of beams carries an array of 2209 small motors that support the GBT’s 2.3-acre surface of aluminum plates.
Dish Support Structure
The backup structure of the Green Bank Telescope is an engineering marvel. This crisscross of beams carries an array of 2209 small motors that support the GBT’s 2.3-acre surface of aluminum plates.
GBT Gleaming in the Snow
The 100-meter Green Bank Telescope gleams after a light snowfall in West Virginia.
Paneling the GBT
The backup structure of the Green Bank Telescope is a crisscross of beams that carries an array of 2209 small motors that support a 2.3-acre surface of aluminum plates.