Life inside West Virginia’s strange “radio quiet” zone

Green Bank Telescope and White Barn, West Virginia

One of the quietest places on Earth, Green Bank provided scientists the silence they needed to conduct their experiments, to listen.

Green Bank, West Virginia, is home to the National Radio Astronomy Observatory, and to the crown jewel of radio astronomy—the Robert C. Byrd Green Bank Telescope.

Completed in 2000, the Green Bank Telescope (often referred to as the GBT) is the world’s largest fully steerable radio telescope. Its massive dish measures 100 meters by 110 meters, stretching wider than a city block. Despite its size, it moves with surprising grace, rotating and tilting to track objects across the sky with exquisite precision.

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