Very Large Array
Socorro, New Mexico
How it works
The 27 radio dishes are alined in a Y shape to act as one large radio dish. They are moved closer together to find out more specific information about the target at a lower resolution, and moved farther away to show a broader higher resolution image. The dishes independently record the radio waves and the time they were recorded. Then a computer puts those waves together to create an image of what the dishes "see".
Why it works
Its isolated enough to produce images of strong isolated radio sources in as little as a few minutes.
Discoveries
They have recorded radio emissions from a brown dwarf, and found giant ring like structure around a cluster of galaxies.
improvements
They are preparing to upgrade to a larger fiber optic system connected to a new correlation computer.