A Very Large Array of Radio Telescopes |
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Pictured above is one of the world´s premiere radio astronomicalobservatories: The Very Large Array (VLA). Each antenna dish is as big as ahouse (25 meters across) and mounted on railroad tracks. The VLA consists of 27 dishes - together capable of spanning the size of a city (35 kilometers). The VLA is the most sensitive radio telescope ever, and, through interferometry, can resolve a golf ball-sized radio source 150kilometers away (0.04 arcsec). The VLA is continually making newdiscoveries, including determining the composition of galaxies, passingcomets, quasars, HII regions, and clusters of galaxies . The VLA is also used to receive the weak radio signals broadcast from interplanetaryspacecraft . The VLA is located in New Mexico, USA. A significant upgrade of VLA´s capabilities is planned.
Créditos: NRAO,NSF
Versión original en inglés