Green Bank

The NRAO was founded in Green Bank, West Virginia (WV); the Observatory's first facilities and offices opened in Green Bank in May 1957 and the dedication of the Observatory took place in October 1957.

The Observatory's current facilities in Green Bank, West Virginia include the world's largest fully-steerable radio telescope, the 110m x 100m Robert C. Byrd Green Bank Telescope, the 43m (140foot) telescope, and the Green Bank Science Center. The Green Bank 85-3 Telescope has most recently been used to monitor pulsar timing and brightness for scientists at Princeton University, UC-Berkeley, and Oberlin College. The 40foot Telescope was built in the early 1960s to study variable radio sources and was the first completely automated telescope. After sitting idle for nearly two decades, the 40-foot was recommissioned in 1987 as an educational telescope that now frequently supports astronomy education programs for students from fifth grade to graduate school.

The NRAO facilities in Green Bank are located in the National Radio Quiet Zone (NRQZ) that was established by the U.S. Federal Communications Commission and Interdepartment Radio Advisory Committee in 1958 to minimize radio frequency interference to the NRAO and the radio receiving facilities in Sugar Grove, WV. The NRQZ encloses ~ 13,000 square miles near the state border between Virginia and West Virginia.

NRAO
P.O. Box 2
Rt. 28/92
Green Bank, WV 24944-0002

Phone: 1-304-456-2011
Fax: 1-304-456-2229