Capture Date/Time:
May 7, 2006
Camera: Canon 5D
Lens: 16-35mm 2.8L
Focal Length: 16mm
Aperture/Shutter Speed:
F/9 – 1/200 sec
ISO: 100 – Flash: None

This is a shot from behind one of the Huge Radio dishes at the Very Large Array located at the National Radio Astronomy Observatory 50 miles west of Socorro, New Mexico. I had to run into restricted area for this shot although there was no one out in the 100+ degree heat that would have stopped me from jumping the fence. This is where they filmed scenes of the movie “Contact” with Jodie Foster.

The Very Large Array (VLA), one of the world’s premier astronomical radio observatories, consists of 27 radio antennas in a Y-shaped configuration on the Plains of San Agustin 80 km (50 miles) miles west of Socorro, New Mexico. Each antenna is 25 meters (82 feet) in diameter. The data from the antennas is combined electronically to give the resolution of an antenna 36km (22 miles) across, with the sensitivity of a dish 130 meters (426.5 feet) in diameter.