View allAll Photos Tagged arrays!!!
Antony Hewish's historic 4 Acre array is the thicket in the middle of the field between the radio telescopes. In the distance is one of the 7 MERLIN (Multi-Element Radio Linked Interferometer Network ) receivers in the UK directed from Jodrell Bank in Cheshire.
The array consists of 27 dishes, 9 on each of 3 tracks radiating from a central point. One of the tracks crosses US route 60, so even when the facility is closed to the public (as it is right now) you can sometimes get a close look at one. Each dish is 25 meters in diameter.
The Very Large Array, in the desert outside New Mexico, is currently studying dark matter. Very dark matter.
Oh, wait, that's only because it was 9:30 PM when I got to the area because I somehow lost 180 miles of road between Petrified Forest and Socorro when I was planning that day of my trip.
There's supposed to be some huge satellite dishes out there. Somewhere.