Multimedia Gallery - The Very Large Array telescope owes its high resolution to 27 individual antennas.

Series of telescopes aimed at sky, purple flowers in foreground.

August 5, 2005

The Very Large Array telescope owes its high resolution to 27 individual antennas.

The Very Large Array (VLA) telescope, operated by the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO), is located on the Plains of San Agustin, about 50 miles (80 kilometers) west of the Array Operations Center in Socorro, New Mexico. The VLA is composed of 27 individual antennas arranged in a "Y" pattern. Four times each year, the VLA antennas are arranged in new configurations by a transporter that moves along dual sets of railroad tracks. In the antennas' closest configuration, about 0.6 miles (1 kilometer) wide, the VLA is able to image large portions of the sky. In its largest configuration, about 22 miles (36 kilometers) wide, the VLA is able to hone in on the fine details of astronomical objects.

Credit: NRAO/AUI and photographer Kelly Gatlin; digital composite, Patricia Smiley

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