The VLA is made up of several of those GIANT dish-like radio antennas -- like the ones featured in Contact or The Dish -- and is out in some part of New Mexico that I've never heard of. Although, to be honest, if it's not near-Santa Fe or near-Albuquerque then all of New Mexico is a giant question mark for me geographically.
Have to say that I totally loved Contact and I might have even loved The Dish more. The Dish is a fabulous film that is both funny and historical -- a radio dish in small town Australia (the dish is literally located in a sheep paddock) is tapped by NASA to help track Apollo 11 and man's first steps on the moon. And The Dish has Sam Neil in it -- who doesn't like Sam Neil characters?
Go here if you have an idea for a more interesting name than "Very Large Array" -- a name which has been on the welcome sign for years now. I went with murmuration, the same term as is applied to a group of starlings taking off.
