Star-struck in the Mountains of West Virginia

Résumé du livre

The best view on Earth of the farthest reaches of the universe is 190 miles from the Beltway at the Robert C. Byrd Green Bank Telescope in the West Virginia mountains. The telescope, which is open to the public most days of the year, is one of the largest movable structures on solid earth, site director Richard Prestage says. It stands nearly 50 stories high and weighs as much as 17 jumbo jets. 'Think of it as a moving football field, ' says David DeVorkin, space history curator at the National Air and Space Museum. It's the world's largest 'steerable' telescope; astronomers steer the telescope's dish -- 360 feet across -- to lock onto and track the most distant objects in the cosmos. The telescope, which cost about $100 million, began regular operation in 2003 after more than a decade of construction and testing.