The National Radio Astronomy Observatory, also known as the Very Large Array (VLA) is located on the plains of St. Augustin above Socorro, NM. Here, scientists and engineers design, build, and run the world's most sophisticated radio telescopes for scientists to study the universe.

The VLA, one of the world's premier astronomical radio observatories, consists of 27 radio antennas in a Y-shaped configuration on the Plains of San Agustin fifty miles west of Socorro, New Mexico. Each antenna is 25 meters (82 feet) in diameter. The data from the antennas is combined electronically to give the resolution of an antenna 36km (22 miles) across, with the sensitivity of a dish 130 meters (422 feet) in diameter.

This was the location for the movie "Contact".