A few weeks ago, I was traveling west on US 60 enroute to Socorro, New Mexico and saw a sign that said VLA AHEAD and had the mileage indicated. I had no idea what it was referring to.
There were more signs as I kept driving, and I noticed some white blips way off in the distance, and then a larger white structure on the left side of the road. It looked like a big satellite dish. Eventually, I found myself parked off the road directly across from it
It was huge. This picture doesn’t reflect the scope of it’s size, and there were identical copies of it located in the distance. And while I sat in the car with my engine idling, the dish moved, taking up a different angle.
Google explained what I had been looking at. It was ‘The Very Large Array (VLA) Radio Telescope facility’. There was a road coming up that would lead to the Visitor Center that would provide answers to the questions most people would have.
I almost took that right turn, but I needed to continue on the highway as it was almost 4pm and the Visitor Center closed at 4. Besides, I needed to navigate my rig over the fast approaching town of Magdalena, and the summit before dropping down into the valley below where Socorro was located.
If you are a star gazer, this little side trip might be something of interest to you. It definitely is a sight to behold, if you encounter this in the middle of nowhere, which it is.
