Because my kids went to college in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia, I sometimes found myself asking Google Maps how long it would take to get to the radio astronomy observatory at Green Bank, West Virginia. It looked close on the map, but as these two guys found out, it really was quite far away. So we never made the trip. I am glad that these guys did. See the video above.
Look, I am a former member of the SARA, the Society of Amateur Radio Astronomers. I am a huge fan of the Parkes Radio Telescope in Australia, the focal point (!) of the movie "The Dish." I also have on my shelf the book, "Big Ear Two -- Listening for Other Worlds" by John Kraus W8JK:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_D._Kraus. I am really interested in this stuff.
This video was a really nice look at the observatory and at the surrounding area. I may have to try again to get out there:
Your friendly radio scientist here: I have to say: "secret government area"? There is nothing secret about any of NRAO Green Bank. They even have a quite nice visitors' center near the entrance with very good docents and displays. I've been there professionally multiple times.
ReplyDeleteIf you were talking about NSA's Sugar Grove (also in the quiet zone - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sugar_Grove_Station), OK maybe. But this title is very much overhyped. It takes 3.25 hours to drive to NRAO Green Bank over the mountains from Charlottesville VA, which is itself on the main Route 29 down from Baltimore, so we're not really talking in the remote woods either.
The history of why the Quiet Zone was established by Sen. Robert Byrd (WVa) in 1958 is interesting in itself, and worth reading. "The NRQZ was established by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in Docket No. 11745 (November 19, 1958) and by the Interdepartment Radio Advisory Committee (IRAC) in Document 3867/2 (March 26, 1958) to minimize possible harmful interference to the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO) in Green Bank, WV and the radio receiving facilities for the United States Navy in Sugar Grove, WV."
That last part is important because a major motivation for the NRQZ was not only radio astronomy but the ability to use moon bounce in a quiet area to intercept radar signals from the Soviet Union, in the days before orbiting satellites with radio receivers became a reality.