VLA to Study Cosmic Magnetic Fields

One of the great work-horses of modern astronomy is the Very Large Array (VLA) in New Mexico, a Y-shaped network of 27 radio telescopes, each one with a diameter of 25 metres.

Since it was built in the 1970s, the VLA has helped to transform our view of the universe. The array has created radio frequency images of everything from the Sun and planets to quasers, pulsars and supernova remnants.

But now that it's more than 30 years old, the VLA is beginning to creak. Which is why it has been undergoing an upgrade to turn it once again into a state-of-the-art facility.

When this upgrade is finished at the end of next year, the new machine will be called the Very Large Array Expansion project or EVLA.…