Research Facilities

The National Radio Observatory

The The National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO) has its Array Operations Center on the New Mexico Tech campus. NRAO operates both the Very Large Array (VLA) and the Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA). The VLA, located on the Plains of St. Augustine (about 50 miles from campus), is one of the world's premier radio observatories. The VLA consists of 27 antennas arranged in a pattern measuring 22 miles across. The VLBA consists of ten automated radio antennas across the United States, from Hawaii to the Virgin Islands; the data from the VLBA are correlated in Socorro. These instruments are used by astronomers from around the world, many of whom visit Socorro to analyze their data.

The VLA is used for general radio astronomy, being well suited to observations of such objects as galactic nebulae, the galactic center, stellar jets, normal galaxies, radio galaxies and quasars. The VLBA can resolve angles smaller than a thousandth of a second of arc. Such fine resolution is used for radio observation of very small structures in stars, galaxies and quasars, and is also used by geophysicists to measure continental drift.

Langmuir Laboratory for Atmospheric Research

Tech is situated close to the Magdalena mountain range which provides both a unique meteorological situation for studying thunderstorms, and a clear dark site for astronomical telescopes. In order to take advantage of this, Congress has established 33,000 acres of the Cibola National Forest as the Langmuir Research Site. New Mexico Tech operates Langmuir Laboratory for Atmospheric Physics at an altitude of 10,000 feet in the research site. During the summer, isolated thunderstorms form directly over the site, and usually remain there during their entire life cycle. Thus, it is possible to study thunderstorms with instruments at a fixed location, which is much easier than using mobile instruments to study moving storms. Scientists from NMT and from many institutions in the US and abroad study these thunderstorms using balloons, rockets, Doppler radar, aircraft, lighting instruments and ground-based electric field mills.

Magdelena Ridge Observatory

NM Tech is a founding partner in the recently funded Magdalena Ridge Observatory. The MRO will put a 2.5-m class telescope and also an optical interferometer, consisting of ten 1.4-m class telescopes, about 20 miles away from campus, at 10,000 feet in the Langmuir Research Site. The MRO is currently under active development; partners with NMT in this project include Cambridge University and Los Alamos National Laboratory. The interferometer will be able to resolve angles smaller than a thousandth of an arcsecond, comparable to the VLBA. When completed, MRO will study a range of astrophysical questions which need very high angular resolution in the optical and near-infrared wavebands, including young stellar objects, stellar mass loss and active galactic nuclei. It is anticipated that these instruments will become operational between 2006 and 2008.

Liquid Sodium Dynamo Experiment

The Liquid Sodium Dynamo (LSD) experiment is a device for studying fluid dynamics relevant to black holes and active galactic nuclei (AGN). The energy source in AGN is believed to be the accretion of matter from the galaxy onto the massive black hole in the galaxy's core. This releases a tremendous amount of energy. It is also believed that rotation and turbulence in the infalling matter twists and distorts magnetic field lines, creating a stronger magnetic field through the dynamo effect. The LSD experiment, located on the Tech campus, tries to simulate this process with rotating liquid sodium.