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Very Large Array

   Also found in: Dictionary/thesaurus, Acronyms, Wikipedia, Hutchinson 0.06 sec.

Very Large Array (VLA)

Radio telescope system consisting of 27 parabolic dishes. The most powerful radio telescope in the world, it has been operated on the plains of San Agustin near Socorro, N.M., U.S., by the National Radio Astronomy Observatory since 1980. Each dish is 82 ft (25 m) in diameter and can be moved independently by transporter along rails laid out in an enormous Y pattern whose arms are about 13 mi (21 km) long. The radio signals received by the dishes are integrated by computer, so the entire array acts as a single radio antenna (an interferometer). The VLA, which has a maximum angular resolution better than a tenth of an arc second, has been responsible for producing many of the most detailed radio images of quasars; galaxies; supernovas; and the Milky Way Galaxy's nucleus.


Very Large Array [¦ver·ē ¦lärj ə′rā]
(astronomy)
An array near Socorro, New Mexico, of 27 separate radio telescopes on movable platforms, arranged along the arms of a Y, designed to provide radio pictures which have an angular resolution comparable with that of the best optical telescopes. Abbreviated VLA.


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Death Stars, Weird Galaxies, And A Quasar-Spangled Universe: The Discoveries Of The Very Large Array Telescope by Karen Taschek is an informative and easy-to-follow study of the Very Large Array (VLA) as constructed by the National Radio Astronomy Observatory in in San Augustin, New Mexico.
Follow-up observations with the Very Large Array radio telescope near Socorro, N.
Herzog worked on the Very Large Array research at the National Radio Astronomy Observatory while at New Mexico State.
 
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