Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array

27 giant radio telescope dishes arranged in a Y-shape across the Plains of San Agustin

The Very Large Array is one of the world's most powerful and visually dramatic radio telescope facilities, consisting of 27 parabolic dishes each 25 metres in diameter, arranged in a Y-configuration across the flat Plains of San Agustin about 50 miles east of Quemado. The dishes are moved along railway tracks to change the configuration of the array, depending on what the astronomers are studying.

The facility has a free visitor centre with exhibits explaining how radio astronomy works and what the VLA has discovered — it has contributed to research on black holes, dark matter, galaxy formation, and dozens of other subjects. A self-guided walking tour takes you close to the dishes on the ground. The scale is more impressive in person than in photographs: the dishes are large enough to walk under, and on the flat plain you can see all 27 arranged in their current formation. Open daily; no reservation required for the visitor centre.

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A story
The VLA is one of the most instantly recognisable scientific instruments in the world, partly because it appears in the film Contact (1997) with Jodie Foster. The filming location was slightly fictionalised — in the film, Jodie Foster's character sits among the dishes wearing headphones, which is not how radio astronomy actually works. The dishes collect electromagnetic radiation, not audible sound.

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