Below is a photograph of the Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA) control room at the National Radio Astronomy Observatory's (NRAO) Array Operations Center (AOC) in Socorro, New Mexico. NRAO builds and operates large radio telescope facilities for scientist around the world to use. Funding comes from the U.S. Government through the National Science Foundation (NSF). The small area under the clock on the far wall in the right half of the photograph is where the Correlator Operator monitors the playback operation of the data tapes that are sent to the AOC from the VLBA antennas. The area just this side of the far wall, and next to the windows is where the Array Operator controls the telescopes from.
Click on the photo for a larger version.
2018-03-02