Very Large Array

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Any

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This is an image from the Very Large Array in New Mexico. If that doesn’t seem familiar, the movie Contact was filmed at this location.

Felt privileged to be able to do a little night photography there a few years back as it it very difficult to get access for night shooting except from the main road that passes north of the main facility.

The light here is from a moon that was at about 1/4, and a small building behind me with a night light on. Between the two sources, it provided enough light to light up the radio telescope dishes, but still be dark enough to get stars in the sky.

Pertinent technical details or techniques:

(If this is a composite, etc. please be honest with your techniques to help others learn)

Canon 5D Mark III, 24mm f/1.4
ISO 3200, 5 Seconds @ f/4

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Nice, Keith. I love shots like this. I like how you composed this with the center array flanked by the scopes on either side. Great night sky. Any idea what the star clusters are? My only thought is the brightness of the middle array; my eye tends to be drawn there, particularly the front scope.

Very nicely done, Keith. Looks like a winter sky with the Pleiades rising on the horizon. I really like how the arrays are lit up and arranged in the image.

Spectacular. Looks amazing on a 32" monitor.
TY

Keith,

Very, very… very cool! Outstanding comes next. What a great opportunity to photograph - and you nailed it. Awesome.

Lon

Not what I would call a typical landscape but I sure like it a lot. Awesome.
:vulcan_salute:

This is spectacular Keith! I spent my early years about 30 miles away in Pie Town and have made infrequent returns, but no photography. Your use of ambient light really pulls it all together, not an easy chore at night.

I like your composition a lot. And you had a nice tight array of dishes. They move the dishes depending on the research study. Currently they are far far apart. Hank, I had pie in PieTown last month. They now have two restaurants in town. My son is a research scientist with NRAO and they run a number of projects at the VLA.

I’m going to start off by saying, that it has been a long long time since I have seen an astro shot that is different. THIS IS IT! I really like what you have done with this image, it has the double bonus of being natural but also having that sci-fi appeal. Nicely done :slight_smile:

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