Socorro, New Mexico: The Very Large Array (VLA)
RoadsideAmerica.com Team Field Report
- Address:
- Old Hwy 60, Socorro, NM
- Directions:
- I-25 exits 147 or 150 for Socorro, then west on US Hwy 60 about 47 miles. On the south side of the highway. Follow the signs from Hwy 60; it's another few miles before you get to the Visitor Center.
- Hours:
- Visitor Center: daily 8:30 am - dusk. (Call to verify) Local health policies may affect hours and access.
- Phone:
- 575-835-7243
- Admission:
- Free.
- RA Rates:
- Major Fun
-
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When infomercials arrive from another galaxy, the Very Large Array will hear them first. Its 27 giant dishes pivot in unison as they track noise from distant space.
Roadsideamerica.com Report... [07/03/2011]Visitor Tips and News About The Very Large Array (VLA)
Reports and tips from RoadsideAmerica.com visitors and Roadside America mobile tipsters. Some tips may not be verified. Submit your own tip.
Some of the most beautiful landscape you will see. The VLA has a history of searching for E.T. But they do an amazing number of other research projects. Highly recommend going to the visitor center and also doing the walking tour.
Bonus: camp out in this area for an amazing night sky!
[Mike Larson, 03/05/2018]
The VLA gets its heaviest visitor day on the same day as the Trinity Site open house day, and has extra staff on hand for it. A guide at the road makes sure you put your mobile devices in airplane mode.
[tenkism, 04/07/2014]
Worth visiting if you are anywhere near. The Very Large Array is an impressive collection which many will recognize from the movie Contact. Along US 60 is a parking area where you can get some pictures, but if you really want to see it up close, drive the four miles back to the visitor center. From there, you can watch a 9 minute video, then take a 20-minute self-guided walk. The walk has many informational posts and the opportunity to walk up to one of the antennas.
If you are lucky, you will be there when the whole array makes a move and all of the antenna move in unison to a new position.
[Sequoyah, 04/23/2011]
An amazing location of huge radio telescopes is out in the desert of New Mexico, in the middle of nowhere and rather shocking to see from the road. It consists of numerous, large "dishes," such as what one might own to pick up TV signals, but many, many times larger and all pointing the same way.
At the time we arrived they were all pointed straight up, but, before we left, while we were inside the building they had all turned to face another direction.
[D. Pruiksma, 08/05/2010]Page of 2 [Next 2 items]
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