The Very Large Array (VLA)

The National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO) radio telescope has 27 huge dish antennas which pick up radio and microwave emissions from space.  Many astronomical discoveries have come from data collected here.

The “Award-Winning Documentary Narrated by Jodie Foster,” shown in the auditorium, unfortunately dumbed down the science (it described radio waves as “invisible light”). It also had a lot of artsy shots of the night sky (irrelevant to a radio telescope), and was more interested in the movies filmed at this location (Contact! Terminator Salvation!)  In fact, “Movies Filmed Here,” was a recurring theme in NM. After all, what is more important- Great Advances in Science, or Movies Filmed Here! 

Unfortunately the only people on hand to answer questions were the people manning the gift shop and they were not very helpful. At least to answer the questions we had.

Themed bathroom wall tile

Bob standing next to dish (bottom left) for a sense of scale. You may need to click on the photo to enlarge

Not sure if they do research here on methane's effect on the Ozone Layer.

We were here on May 14th.