New Mexico Entertainment

VLA as seen from NM Hwy 52

The VLA, dedicated on 10 October 1980 (shown in the movie, Contact, starring Jodie Foster), is a radio telescope consisting of an array of 27 antennas, connected electronically to synthesize a single radio telescope 20 miles in diameter.  Astronomers produce radio photographs of celestial objects with the same detail and resolution as photogrphs made with the biggest optical telescopes.  The use of telescopes is awarded to qualified scientists from all over the world who propose meritorious programs of research in radio astronomy.

Before 1950, information about the universe was limited to light detected by optical telescopes.  With the development of radio receivers after World War II and the launching of scientific instruments into earth-orbit, astronomers began to study the non-visible waves from the sky, discovering many new kinds of objects previously unknown by use of an optical telescope.  The reason for combining multiple radio telescopes, determined by radio engineers and astronomers in Australia and Great Britain in the 1950's, was that the resolution of a large radio telescope could be simulated and the measured positions could be made more precise by combining signals from several telescopes separated by many miles.

March 2000

Next

Very Large Array (VLA) Photographs Page