Very Large Array (VLA) on the plains of the San Agustin desert just north of Magnalena, New Mexico on November 16, 2019. The Very Large Array is a radio astronomy observatory made up of 27 massive radio telescopes. Each dish is 82 feet across and weighs more than 200 tons. They are positioned along three arms of a track shaped in a Y configuration with each arm extending out 13 miles. So, in its widest configuration the telescopes extend 26 miles across.