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This is the Very Large Array in New Mexico, otherwise known as the VLA. It's an array of 27 radio "dishes" that are each 25 meters in diameter. The antennas are arranged in a giant "Y" shape with nine antennas along each arm. The spacing between each antenna can be adjusted to create 13 mile long arms in the largest configuration.
In this photograph, the VLA is set up in the second from the smallest configuration, allowing all of the antennas to be seen while walking around the area. The nine antennas of the northern and eastern arms can be seen, but only four on the western arm are visible from the balcony of the control building where I set up the camera. This panorama is a mosaic made from eight photographs taken with my 85mm f/2 Zuiko (Olympus) lens on my 35mm Olympus OM-3 camera. I used Fuji Provia 100 transparency (slide) film. Photograph by Rick Scott.
Updated: 15 February 2004