Calling Occupants of Interplanetary Craft

VLBA antenna

— A visit to Davis Mountains SP and surrounding areas will inevitably raise travelers’ curiosity, especially if you spot the view in the photo above. That is one of the ten antennae doing radio astronomy research. In the scientific world, they are referred to as VLBA (Very Long Baseline Array) antennae. Each antenna is 260 tons, 25 meters (82 feet) in diameter and controlled centrally in Socorro, New Mexico. The data they gather allow astronomers to do detailed studies of celestial objects. If you are sci-fi movie fan, you might recall seeing them in the 1997 movie Contact (with Jodie Foster & Matthew McConaughey). The antenna precision is such that a person can be in Los Angeles and read a newspaper in New York using these telescopes.

VLBA antenna top section

The location for this particular antenna I discovered while hiking the Limpia Creek Vista Trail at Davis Mountains SP. That trail tends to be overlooked by park visitors because it is located across Highway 118, on the other side of the park entrance and camping area. In order to hike that trail, a visitor needs to obtain a gate code at the park headquarters. Once on the trail, after the initial ascent, the views of the Davis Mountains are expansive. That is when we spotted the antenna from the top of the trail. I was able to visualize the small Sproul Road near the Prude Ranch. The Sproul Road is the one to take to get to the VLBA antenna.

The day I made these photos, we were lucky enough to get right at the antenna base and talk with one of the technicians on site. I am not sure the site is open at all times, but that day, there was someone there at the time we drove up. You can see me by the steps in one of the shots below. You can click on any of the small photos to see the full-size captures.

VLBA antenna
VLBA antenna

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