The Very Large Array
No, this is not Roswell, and the aliens have not landed – yet. This is Pie Town, New Mexico. Well, almost. Located atop a vast and lonely plateau, oddly close to a one-horse town famed for, of all things, its pastries, stands the Very Large Array (VLA) National Radio Observatory. The VLA is often mistaken for a kind of telephone to dial up UFOs, but I assure you, if ET showed up here, he’d be out of luck. While New Mexico is famed as the State where an alien spacecraft is said to have crashed, been found, then summarily covered up by the US government in 1947, that is many miles east of these giant (think baseball diamond-sized here, folks), antennae.
Designed to ‘listen’ to space, the VLA took a total of 19 years to build at a cost of US $78,600,000.00. Since 1980, this collection of 27, 82-foot diameter parabolic antennae has been picking up images of thousands of objects beyond the Milky Way and manages to assist tens of thousands of scientists and astronomers as they attempt to map the universe.
How does it work?
Computers are used to connect the dishes, forming one massive radio telescope. The scope collects what it hears and stores it on magnetic tape for scientists to use. The entire operation is comprised of three arms of railway track that extend 13 miles from the center and include nine dishes mounted on each arm. Changing the distances between the antennae changes the resolution of what is being observed, much like a camera’s zoom lens.
The remote and undeveloped home of the VLA seems an odd place for some of the world’s most advanced scientific equipment. But the area is actually the perfect locale for this strange display of dishes because it is untouched by electrical waves and other city disturbances, while its high altitude – about a mile above sea level – minimizes the blurring that happens when ogling objects at the edge of the universe.
Why Radio?
Optical scopes can only pick up three forms of light: ultraviolet, infrared and x-ray, but a radio can pick up waves beyond these frequencies, allowing observers to study nearly every type of object in the universe. If our eyes operated like theses dishes, we would see radio waves instead of light. The sky as we know it would appear completely different. The brightest objects we would see would be far distant galaxies experiencing violent outbursts and sending immense amounts of energy and matter into the cosmos. Our sun would be visible but the daytime sky would appear dark. Stars that now illuminate the evening sky would be gone, replaced by the light of high energy cosmic rays and clouds of flowing, interstellar gas. We would also see quasars if our eyes were VLA dishes. These unusual energy fluctuations stem from the centers of distant galaxies.
The VLA might not be a cosmic mobile phone, but it does something equally as amazing. One could argue that the dishes of the VLA are a sort of time machine, allowing the observer to see events that took place long before the birth of our very planet. The waves received by the observatory are ancient, having begun their journey to earth millions or possibly billions of years ago. What this means is that by comparing both the optical and radio sky, astronomers can glean totally new data on the history, physical conditions, and evolution of celestial objects. Sound far out? It is! By using the VLA, scientists have been able to observe the life cycle of stars, check out changes in the sun’s atmosphere and surface, and watch the early history of space. Those in the know hope that through this expanded method of ‘seeing’ they may also, in time, be able discover the origins of the cosmos.
Would the VLA be able to read aliens in our midst? Probably, but if it’s ET you are after, head to Roswell.
General Information
The Very Large Array is located on highway 60 West in the southwest quadrant of New Mexico, USA. Be assured, you cannot miss it, but if you are coming from Albuquerque, you may pass the turnoff so slow down when you see those giant white plates on the horizon! The Visitor Center, open daily from 8:30 am, is located adjacent to the mammoth discs. It offers a self-guided walking tour, video presentation, museum and even a gift shop selling memorabilia such as antenna pins, stickers, tiles, tee shirts and coffee mugs. An excellent range of books rounds out the selection. The museum houses a detailed display of some of the VLA’s discoveries including images of black holes, distant galaxies, the death of massive stars, micro quasars and even pictures of the ominous sounding, cosmic jet spew.
Pie Town
While you are in the neighborhood, be sure to stop in Pie Town, a few miles west of the VLA. A singular antenna stands there, also a part of the Observatory, along with a post office, a camp ground, and a handful of store fronts. A snack at one of the town’s two famed eateries – The Pie-O-Neer and the Daily Pie – is a must. Recommended from their selection of fine fare? Why pie, of course!
Roswell
If it’s alien memorabilia you are after, go east young man. Roswell, New Mexico, located on the other side of the north-south interstate highway 25 is ready to welcome both skeptics and believers. A strange configuration of a town that combines elements of the old west with UFO tourist traps, Roswell will definitely quench your thirst for ET-esque flotsam. This is a village where lamp posts are shaped like alien heads and shop owners are inclined to paint murals of the little grey guys on their storefront windows. Visit the International UFO Museum to find exhibits on the 1947 “Roswell incident” and the “alien enigma” (whatever that is). Their gift shop claims to sell “the world’s largest selection of UFO related gift items” so if you need some alien cookie cutters, action figures, or shot glasses, here be the place. Every July Roswell hosts a UFO Festival with alien parades, concerts, costumes and even an ‘alien chase’ 10K run.
I always wondered what those were. Thanks for the informative article. I'm no science wiz, but this made it understandable AND entertaining.