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Very Large Array 2
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| [Note Guidelines] Photographer's Note |
The VLA featured prominently in Carl Sagan's 1980 documentary Cosmos: A Personal Voyage, and is the setting for the beginning of the 1984 film 2010—with the same scene in the novel 2010: Odyssey Two, from which the film was adapted, being set at the radio telescope at the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico. The 1985 novel Contact features a fictionalized version of the VLA, expanding the number of dishes to 131 and renaming it to the "Argus Array." For the 1997 film (Contact), much of the outdoor footage was shot at the VLA site with the number of dishes visible on screen artificially increased by CGI, and the canyon depicted as being in the vicinity of the VLA is actually Canyon de Chelly in neighboring Arizona. It is also seen in the final scene of the alien-invasion film The Arrival, and the beginning of Independence Day, when the alien invaders were initially detected by SETI at the VLA.
New Jersey rock band Bon Jovi shot the music video for "Everyday", at the VLA. Likewise Matt Harding can be seen dancing at there in his second video.
The cover for the Dire Straits album On The Night features the VLA.
The VLA features in plans to save the world from satellites being pulled from orbit in the second volume of the comic book series G.I. Joe: America's Elite published by Devil's Due.
The VLA can be visited in Auto Assault, a massively multiplayer online game set in post-apocalyptic America.
The VLA site is open to visitors year round during daylight hours. A visitor center houses a museum and a gift shop. A self-guided walking tour is available, as the visitor center is not staffed continuously. Visitors unfamiliar with the area are warned that there is little food onsite, or in the sparsely populated surroundings; those unfamiliar with the high desert are warned that the weather is quite variable, and can remain cold into April. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Very_Large_Array)
This photo was taken approx. 1/2 mile away from the closest antenna from the access road leading to the visitor's center. |
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Hi Don,
Very beautiful photograph!
Vasilis
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