Tuscon it hot! Back here after a drive through the Gila National Forest area. It was cooler up in the mountains. One very cool highlight was the Very Large Array Radio Telescope that is near Succoro, New Mexico. Even though it is hard for me to understand how it does what it does it is impressive to see what looks like an array of radar dishes on railroad tracks pointing up at the sky.
This is just before I enter the visitor's center, where there is a video about the kind of work that is done here. The array itself is composed of 27 antennas - the things that look like radar dishes. It covers an area of some 17 miles. The antennas are moved occasionally, depending on the specifics of the particular piece of research and the specific area in space on which they are focused.
Each antenna dish is 25 meters in diameter. Each dish is mounted on wheels on railroad tracks so they can be moved. The total weight of each is 230 tons; 100 tons of which is the reflector.
This is just before I enter the visitor's center, where there is a video about the kind of work that is done here. The array itself is composed of 27 antennas - the things that look like radar dishes. It covers an area of some 17 miles. The antennas are moved occasionally, depending on the specifics of the particular piece of research and the specific area in space on which they are focused.
Each antenna dish is 25 meters in diameter. Each dish is mounted on wheels on railroad tracks so they can be moved. The total weight of each is 230 tons; 100 tons of which is the reflector.
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