Astronomy Picture of the Day

    Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
      fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
                    written by a professional astronomer.

                               2020 October 9

                       The Very Large Array at Moonset
               Image Credit: Jeff Hellermann, NRAO / AUI / NSF

   Explanation: An inspirational sight, these giant dish antennas of the
   Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array (VLA) rise above the New Mexico desert
   at moonset. Mounted on piers but transportable on railroad tracks to
   change the VLA's configuration, its 27 operating antennas are each
   house-sized (25 meters across) and can be organized into an array
   spanning the size of a city (35 kilometers). A prolific radio astronomy
   workhorse, the VLA has been used to discover water on planet Mercury,
   radio-bright coronae around stars, micro-quasars in our Galaxy,
   gravitationally-induced Einstein rings around distant galaxies, and
   radio counterparts to cosmologically distant gamma-ray bursts. Its vast
   size has allowed astronomers to study the details of radio galaxies,
   super-fast cosmic jets, and map the center of our own Milky Way. Now 40
   years since its dedication the VLA has been used in more than 14,000
   observing projects and contributed to more than 500 Ph.D.
   dissertations. On October 10, the National Radio Astronomy Observatory
   will host a day-long online celebration of the VLA at 40 featuring
   virtual tours and presentations on the history, operations, science,
   and future of the Very Large Array.

                      Tomorrow's picture: light-weekend
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       Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
            NASA Official: Phillip Newman Specific rights apply.
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                      A service of: ASD at NASA / GSFC
                             & Michigan Tech. U.


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