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Silohuette of photographer on the right taking a photo of a VLA antenna at night. Overlaying that image is a a photo of the back of a digital camera showing an image of a VLA antenna with the Milky Way behind it.
Astrophotography Workshop Announced at Iconic Very Large Array
March 24, 2026 at 12:58 pm | News Release

Photography enthusiasts and stargazers alike are invited to experience an unforgettable evening of learning and exploration at the U.S. National Science Foundation Very Large Array (NSF VLA) located 25 miles west of Magdalena, New Mexico.

Screenshot 2026-03-16 at 11.16.43 AM
NSF NRAO Names Albuquerque’s Jeff Hoehn to Director of Advancement for Next Generation Learning Center
March 16, 2026 at 1:09 pm | Announcement

The U.S. National Science Foundation National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NSF NRAO) is proud to announce the appointment of Jeff Hoehn, MPA, as its new Director of Advancement, expanding the Observatory’s capacity for partnership and philanthropy across New Mexico and the nation.

this image is purely decorative, it features a velociraptor encouraging you to visit the VLA Open House.
NSF NRAO to Host Spring 2026 VLA Open House
March 13, 2026 at 5:02 pm | Announcement

NSF NRAO invites the public to the U.S. National Science Foundation Very Large Array (NSF VLA) for its annual Spring Open House on Saturday, April 18, 2026, from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.

VLITE 11 year sky coverage map
VLITE Marks 11 Years of Capturing the Dynamic Radio Sky
February 12, 2026 at 8:00 am | News Release

The U.S. National Science Foundation National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NSF NRAO) and the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) are celebrating the 11th anniversary of the VLA Low-band Ionosphere and Transient Experiment (VLITE), a pioneering program that has opened new windows into the low-frequency radio universe.

MODULUS rendering of the Next Generation Learning Center at the U.S. National Science Foundation Very Large Array site
NSF NRAO Selects New Mexico Firm to Design Next Generation Learning Center at the NSF Very Large Array
February 4, 2026 at 8:00 am | Announcement

The U.S. National Science Foundation National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NSF NRAO) has selected New Mexico–based Modulus Architects & Land Use Planning, Inc. (MODULUS) as the architectural firm for the Next Generation Learning Center (ngLC), a new state-of-the-art STEM education facility planned for the U.S. National Science Foundation Very Large Array (NSF VLA) site west of Socorro, New Mexico. The project is slated to be a facility that will expand educational opportunity and workforce development across New Mexico and beyond.​​

This artist’s rendering illustrates a precessing jet erupting from the supermassive black hole at the center of galaxy VV 340a. Optical observations from the W. M. Keck Observatory revealed extended, cooler gas pushed outward over thousands of light-years, while infrared data from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope captured the super-heated coronal gas near the galaxy’s core.
The NSF Very Large Array Helps Reveal Record-Breaking Stream of Super-Heated Gas from Nearby Galaxy
January 8, 2026 at 12:15 pm | News Release

Astronomers using the U.S. National Science Foundation Very Large Array (NSF VLA), together with the NASA James Webb Space Telescope and other observatories, have identified an enormous, galaxy-scale stream of super-heated gas erupting from the nearby galaxy VV 340a.

A new, extremely luminous fast blue optical transient, AT2024wpp, flares as a bright blue point of light in the left panel, located just off the edge of its faint host galaxy, while the right panel shows the same region of sky after the outburst faded
Radio telescopes uncover “invisible” gas around record-shattering cosmic explosion
January 8, 2026 at 12:15 pm | News Release

Astronomers using the U.S. National Science Foundation National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NSF NRAO) instruments, the U.S. National Science Foundation Very Large Array (NSF VLA) and the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), have revealed a dense cocoon of gas around one of the most extreme cosmic explosions ever seen, showing that a ravenous black hole ripped apart a massive star and then lit up its surroundings with powerful X-rays.

PASASAGES Lensed Protocluster Core Candidate PJ0846+15
Cosmic Lens Reveals Hyperactive Cradle of Future Galaxy Cluster
January 7, 2026 at 12:58 pm | News Release

Astronomers using the U.S. National Science Foundation Very Large Array (NSF VLA) and the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) have discovered a rare protocluster that was exceptionally bright, all when the Universe was 11 billion years younger.

A multi-panel astronomical image shows the spiral galaxy M33 on the left, with soft blue-white spiral arms and a bright central bulge, overlaid by a faint rectangular outline marking a region near the galaxy’s center. Inset on the right is a zoomed, false-color radio/optical composite of that outlined area, filled with mottled clouds of blue, purple, and red, where the red regions trace clumpy, dense gas and the blue-purple background highlights more diffuse material and a central cavity. White labels identify a “Supernova Remnant” within a dashed circular outline in the lower-left of the inset, a nearby “Wolf-Rayet Star” just above and to the right, a faint “Cavity” region outlined by a dotted circle above them, and “Dense Gas” along the bright red structures to the right, illustrating how the massive star and past supernova have carved out a bubble in the surrounding gas within the galaxy.
Stars That Die Off the Beaten Path
January 6, 2026 at 4:15 pm | News Release

Astronomers have created a detailed forecast of where they expect to observe future stellar explosions in a nearby galaxy,…

This is an annotated composite image of Cloud-9, a Reionization-Limited H I Cloud (RELHIC), as captured by the Hubble Space Telescope’s ACS (Advanced Camera for Surveys) and the ground-based U.S. National Science Foundation Very Large Array (NSF VLA) radio telescope.

The image shows a scale bar, compass arrows, and color key for reference.
The scale bar is labeled in light-years along the top, which is the distance that light travels in one Earth-year. (It takes 2,000 years for light to travel a distance equal to the length of the scale bar.) One light-year is equal to about 5.88 trillion miles or 9.46 trillion kilometers.

The scale bar is also labeled in arcseconds, which is a measure of angular distance on the sky. One arcsecond is equal an angular measurement of 1/3600 of one degree. There are 60 arcseconds in an arcminute and 60 arcminutes in a degree. (The full Moon has an angular diameter of about 30 arcminutes.) The actual size of an object that covers one arcsecond on the sky depends on its distance from the telescope.

The north and east compass arrows show the orientation of the image on the sky. Note that the relationship between north and east on the sky (as seen from below) is flipped relative to direction arrows on a map of the ground (as seen from above).

This image shows wavelengths of light, including radio waves, that have been translated into visible-light colors. The color key shows the two ACS filters used to collect the light, along with the NSF VLA’s radio-wave contribution. A color key shows F606W in blue, F814W in orange, and Radio NSF VLA in magenta.
NSF NRAO Radio Telescopes Help Reveal Cloud-9, a Starless Dark-Matter “Failed Galaxy” Near M94
January 5, 2026 at 12:14 pm | News Release

Astronomers using a powerful combination of radio and optical telescopes have confirmed that a peculiar gas cloud near the spiral galaxy M94 is a “failed” galaxy; a dark-matter-dominated halo filled with gas but entirely lacking stars.

Showing results 1 - 10 of 259