Located in the woods near North Liberty, Iowa, this antenna cannot be seen from the road, but is occasionally seen by boaters on Lake Coralville. Surrounded by beautiful forests and water in the eastern part of the state, the site experiences a climate ranging from cold, snow, ice and wind in the winter to heat and high humidity in the summer.
The North Liberty Telescope is one of 10 radio telescopes that make up the U.S. National Science Foundation’s National Radio Astronomy Observatory’s Very Large Baseline Array, which extends 5,351 miles from Hawaii to the Virgin Islands. It is the only NSF VLBA telescope located in the Midwest, making it a crucial component of the array. Like the other NSF VLBA antennas, the North Liberty Telescope consists of a 25-meter (82-foot) dish, which is approximately as tall as a ten-story building when pointed straight up. Two technicians work at the North Liberty site. Their responsibilities include everything from maintaining sophisticated electrical systems and HVAC systems to performing general maintenance such as mowing the lawn.
The University of Iowa played an important role in establishing the North Liberty site. The university’s history with radio telescopes and its involvement in previous networks using similar technology contributed to the selection of this location. As part of the NSF VLBA, astronomers use the North Liberty Telescope to explore galaxies, black holes and pulsars, and measure distant cosmological objects.
