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Credit & Copyright: Dave Green
Explanation:
What will the huge Green Bank Telescope discover tonight?
Pictured, the
Robert
C. Byrd Green Bank Telescope (GBT)
on the lower right is the largest fully-pointable single-dish
radio telescope in the world.
With a central dish larger than a football field, the
GBT
is nestled in the hills of
West Virginia,
USA in a
radio quiet zone where the use of cell phones, WiFi emitters,
and even microwave ovens are limited.
The GBT explores our universe
not only during the night -- but during the day, too,
since the daytime sky is typically dark in
radio waves.
Taken in late January, the featured image was planned for months to get the setting
location of Orion
just right.
The image is a composite of a foreground shot taken over
a kilometer away from the
GBT,
and a background shot built up of long exposures during the previous night.
The deep background image of
Orion
is fitting
because the GBT is famous for, among
many discoveries,
mapping the
unusual magnetic field in the
Orion Molecular Cloud Complex.
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NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings, and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris. Specific rights apply.
A service of: LHEA at NASA / GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
Based on Astronomy Picture
Of the Day
Publications with keywords: Orion - radiotelescope
Publications with words: Orion - radiotelescope
See also: