14. The Very Large Array
Technology in service of wonder
The Very Large Array (VLA), a group of massive radio dishes coordinated into a gigantic Y in remote New Mexico, is a device for listening, an extension of our ears. Except the VLA doesn’t listen to our immediate neighbors, but our celestial ones—the remnants of supernova explosions, star-forming galaxies, black holes, and ultimately, the cosmic microwave background radiation (CMBR), the “background noise” of the universe thought to originate in the Big Bang. And we measure these sounds, these radiations, in distances described as “lookback time”—however many hundreds of million years ago they occurred is also their distance to us. The VLA listens out into space, but also back through time: time and space standing in for one another, describing the same thing, each signal an ancient message finally arriving.
The most impressive thing about the VLA, however, is the fact that it exists, a monument to unembarrassed wonder at the vastness of the universe. If you’re feeling discouraged about the species, look! We have this extraordinary, ambitious, expensive thing we made—We! Collectively!—built this thing, saying publicly, bureaucratically, and without apology, that asking the questions What is the universe made of? How did it begin? Are we alone? is not childish or indulgent, but adult work, worthy of national resources.
Imagine: technology that does not cynically feed our sense of meaninglessness but exists in service of our wonder. Technology that doesn’t seek to impose meaning, but merely listens, patiently and attentively. Waiting for the sky to speak.
Links:
“An Introduction to Radio Astronomy” by James J. Condon and Scott M. Ransom
You can visit the Very Large Array!
This post is part of The American 250, a series featuring 250 words on 250 objects made by Americans, located in America, in honor of the country’s 250th anniversary. Through December 31, 2026.
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I’m looking for ideas for this series — have something you’d like me to consider for inclusion? Please feel free to leave a comment!
The fact that when we look up at the sky we are also simultaneously looking back into time is one of the most mind-bending points to ponder in science. We can literally see distant galaxies as they looked billions of years before Earth even existed.
I keep a folder on my desktop of places to visit, this is going in that folder! thanks Rainey :)