Astronomy Picture of the Day

   [1]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
    [2]See Explanation. Clicking on the picture will download the highest
                        resolution version available.

                       The Very Large Array at Moonset
          Image Credit: Jeff Hellermann, [3]NRAO / [4]AUI / [5]NSF

   Explanation: [6]An inspirational sight, these giant dish antennas of
   the [7]Karl G. Jansky [8]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
   [9]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 [10]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. [11]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 [12]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: [24]Robert Nemiroff ([25]MTU) & [26]Jerry Bonnell
                                 ([27]UMCP)
          NASA Official: Phillip Newman [28]Specific rights apply.
              [29]NASA Web Privacy Policy and Important Notices
                A service of: [30]ASD at [31]NASA / [32]GSFC
                           & [33]Michigan Tech. U.

References

   1. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html
   2. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2010/VLA_Moonset_NIK_0991.jpg
   3. https://public.nrao.edu/
   4. https://aui.edu/
   5. https://www.nsf.gov/
   6. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contact_(1997_American_film)
   7. https://phys.org/news/2012-04-karl-jansky-large-array-famous.html
   8. https://public.nrao.edu/telescopes/vla/
   9. https://public.nrao.edu/vla-configurations/
  10. https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/mercury/overview/
  11. https://beta.nsf.gov/science-matters/vla-turning-40
  12. https://public.nrao.edu/event/vla-virtual-tours-2020-10-10/
  13. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap201008.html
  14. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html
  15. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/apsubmit2015.html
  16. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/aptree.html
  17. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/apod/apod_search
  18. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/allyears.html
  19. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod.rss
  20. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/edlinks.html
  21. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html
  22. http://asterisk.apod.com/discuss_apod.php?date=201009
  23. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap201010.html
  24. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/faculty/Nemiroff.html
  25. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/
  26. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/htmltest/jbonnell/www/bonnell.html
  27. http://www.astro.umd.edu/
  28. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html#srapply
  29. https://www.nasa.gov/about/highlights/HP_Privacy.html
  30. https://astrophysics.gsfc.nasa.gov/
  31. https://www.nasa.gov/
  32. https://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/
  33. http://www.mtu.edu/