--- title: New Radio Telescope Prototype Has First Light Milestone description: The next-generation Very Large Array (ngVLA) prototype radio antenna in New Mexico has achieved its 'first light' milestone, successfully making independent... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/new-radio-telescope-prototype-has-first-light-milestone-rtvpy075s twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: New Radio Telescope Prototype Has First Light Milestone | daily.dev og:description: The next-generation Very Large Array (ngVLA) prototype radio antenna in New Mexico has achieved its 'first light' milestone, successfully making independent... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/new-radio-telescope-prototype-has-first-light-milestone-rtvpy075s og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/rtvpy075s.png og:image:alt: New Radio Telescope Prototype Has First Light Milestone og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # New Radio Telescope Prototype Has First Light Milestone **[IEEE Spectrum](https://daily.dev/sources/ieeespectrum)** · 4 min read · 0 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary The next-generation Very Large Array (ngVLA) prototype radio antenna in New Mexico has achieved its 'first light' milestone, successfully making independent astronomical observations and integrating with the existing 27-antenna VLA as a 28th element. The prototype tracked the sun, the Crab Nebula, and observed Perseus A alongside the full VLA array. The eventual ngVLA will consist of 244 antennas spanning over 8,000 kilometers, offering 10 times the collecting area and resolution of current instruments like the VLA and ALMA. Further testing and calibration are planned in the coming months. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [South Africa’s giant SKA telescope clears major technical hurdle](https://daily.dev/posts/south-africa-s-giant-ska-telescope-clears-major-technical-hurdle-ogi3zynqz) · TechCentral · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [Space Forge Evaluates In-Orbit Manufacturing Tech](https://daily.dev/posts/space-forge-evaluates-in-orbit-manufacturing-tech-gbzb4k6dy) · IEEE Spectrum · 1 upvotes · 0 comments - [Lincoln Laboratory and Haystack Observatory team up to unveil hidden parts of the galaxy](https://daily.dev/posts/lincoln-laboratory-and-haystack-observatory-team-up-to-unveil-hidden-parts-of-the-galaxy-dzsibpqzf) · MIT News · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [The Haystack 37m Telescope: A new era of astrophysical research](https://daily.dev/posts/the-haystack-37m-telescope-a-new-era-of-astrophysical-research-1wlysallr) · MIT News · 0 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#signal-processing](https://daily.dev/tags/signal-processing) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/new-radio-telescope-prototype-has-first-light-milestone-rtvpy075s) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"New Radio Telescope Prototype Has First Light Milestone","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/new-radio-telescope-prototype-has-first-light-milestone-rtvpy075s","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/new-radio-telescope-prototype-has-first-light-milestone-rtvpy075s"},"datePublished":"2026-06-07T13:00:26.424Z","dateModified":"2026-06-07T13:21:26.113Z","description":"The next-generation Very Large Array (ngVLA) prototype radio antenna in New Mexico has achieved its 'first light' milestone, successfully making independent...","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/ccdf23343f38768ad98d64dea536787a?_a=AQAEuop","thumbnailUrl":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/ccdf23343f38768ad98d64dea536787a?_a=AQAEuop","isAccessibleForFree":true,"articleSection":"IEEE Spectrum","inLanguage":"en","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180}},"author":{"@type":"Organization","name":"IEEE Spectrum","logo":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/t_logo,f_auto/v1/logos/b123f5e8420e492ab36f6adb30c1793a","url":"https://daily.dev/sources/ieeespectrum"},"commentCount":0,"discussionUrl":"https://daily.dev/posts/new-radio-telescope-prototype-has-first-light-milestone-rtvpy075s","interactionStatistic":[{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":0},{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"CommentAction"},"userInteractionCount":0}],"keywords":"signal-processing","timeRequired":"PT4M"} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https://daily.dev"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"IEEE Spectrum","item":"https://daily.dev/sources/ieeespectrum"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"New Radio Telescope Prototype Has First Light Milestone"}]} ```