At nearly 7,000 feet altitude, on the very flat plains of San Augustin surrounded by mountains, in the middle of nowhere in New Mexico, is a fascinating place called “The National Radio Astronomy Observatory Very Large Array.” Or, VLA, for short.

The VLA has 28 large radio telescopes. They are spread out in a Y-shaped array across the valley. Each of these huge telescopes is mounted on railroad tracks so they can be clustered together or spread out over 20 miles.

The telescopes are interconnected so that they can function as one very large radio telescope. The radio waves they collect from outer space are not visible to the human eye. Instead, a huge very sophisticated computer “translates” the radio signals into images we can see. Some of the observations have been of black holes, photoplanetary disks around young stars, tracing complex gas motions at the Milky Way’s center and more.

When we visited, the telescopes were clustered close together. Each telescope is 25 meters (or 82 feet) across.

The different arrays are used to get various results. One is used for fine detail and another is used for a broader range of images. The super computer then merges the images together to form one visual image. The telescopes are moved about every three to four months to a different configuration.

Each telescope dish itself can also move into different positions. These telescopes are operational 24 hours, seven days a week. Night or day doesn’t matter. What does matter is that it is far away from any radio waves like cell phones, microwave and radio signals that would interfere with these sensitive telescopes. That is why this location in the middle of nowhere was chosen for these sensitive instruments that are collecting very faint cosmic radio waves. The mountains block interfering radio waves from other surrounding sources.

We toured the visitors’ center and museum, watched an informative video, and then went on a self-guided walking tour around the facilities. This sundial (in the center) showed historic moments on the ground where the sundial would have been pointing at the time they happened.

This VLA is located about 50 miles west of Socorro, New Mexico. We stopped here on our way from Socorro to Show Low, Arizona. We took our lunch break here after first touring the facilities. It was a nice break in a long day of travel, and besides that, we learned a lot.If you’re ever traveling on Hwy 60 through western New Mexico, stop and take some time to see this interesting place. It will be worth your time.

I was impressed with how vast and huge is our universe. It reminded me of these verses in the Bible.

“When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers,
The moon and the stars, which You have set in place;
 What is man that You think of him,
And a son of man that You are concerned about him?” Psalm 8:3-4

“The heavens tell of the glory of God;
And their expanse declares the work of His hands”. Psalm 19:1