SATLASRadio · Ground
VLA
Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array
OperatingOperating since 1980.
Twenty-seven 25 m dishes on a Y-shaped track, moved between four configurations with maximum baselinesbaselineThe separation between two antennas of an interferometer, projected onto the plane perpendicular to the source. Long baselines give fine resolution; short ones recover extended emission. from 1 to 36 km, observing from 1 to 50 GHz in the main bands. Arcsecondarcsecond1/3600 of a degree (″). A milliarcsecond (mas) is 10⁻³″ and a microarcsecond (µas) 10⁻⁶″. Atmospheric seeing limits ground telescopes to about 0.5–1″ without adaptive optics. to sub-arcsecond radio imaging of AGN jets, star formation, radio transientstime-domain astronomyStudying how sources vary or appear over time: supernovae, tidal disruptions, flares, variable stars and moving objects. Needs wide fields, high cadence and fast data processing. and molecular gas, and the instrument behind the VLA Sky Survey.
- Operator
- NRAO, NSF
- Site
- Plains of San Agustin, New Mexico
- Aperture
- 27 × 25 m
- Passband
- 1 GHz – 50 GHz
- Dedication
- 1980
Passband
Sky coverage
Pointed observationspointed observationObserving chosen targets, usually selected by peer review in annual proposal cycles, as opposed to surveying the sky systematically. Gives depth on few objects; the total area observed stays small. north of DecdeclinationCelestial latitude in the equatorial system: the angle north (+) or south (−) of the celestial equator, from −90° to +90°. A ground site at latitude φ sees declinations up to roughly 90° − |φ| beyond its own pole. ≈ −40°; the VLA Sky Survey (VLASS) images all of that sky at 2–4 GHz and 2.5″ resolution, in repeated epochs.
Archives
Science cases
Sources
Verified 15 November 2026.