This photo was taken this past week at the Very Large Array, one of the world’s largest radio astronomy facilities. It covers an expansive area out on the Plains of San Agustin in New Mexico and consists of 27 antenna dishes that are each 25 meters (82′) in diameter. The total baseline of all the antennas can be up to 36 km (22 miles).
This is looking northward at the Milky Way. There were some clouds at the time, and the lights on the horizon are probably coming from the distant towns of Gallup and Grants.
If you’ve seen the 1997 movie, Contact, with Jodie Foster and Matthew McConaughey, this location was featured extensively.
This is a single 20-sec exposure with Rokinon 14mm f/2.8 manual focus lens.
By Gregg Ness
Taken on: November 19, 2014
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