2009: Horn Antenna

Constructed in 1959 to support Project Echo (NASA’s Passive Communications Satellite Project), the Horn Antenna is located on the [former] Bell Telephone Laboratories campus in Holmdel, NJ. Made of aluminum, the antenna is 50 ft in length with a radiating aperture of 20×20 ft. In 1965 while using the Horn Antenna, Arno Allan Penzias and Robert Woodrow Wilson stumbled on the (Cosmic) Microwave Background Radiation (more info here) that permeates the universe.

This discovery, hailed as the most important in modern astronomy since Hubble’s finding of expanding universe, provided the evidence that confirmed George Gamow’s and Abbe Georges Lemaitre’s Big Bang Theory of the creation of the universe. This forever changed the science of cosmology – the study of the history of the universe – from a field for unlimited theoretical speculation into a subject disciplined by direct observation. In 1978 Penzias and Wilson received the Nobel Prize for Physics for their momentous discovery.

Thanks be to

dear friend, Pradeep Khowash, and a kind-hearted employee of Alcatel, who shall remain nameless for helping me check this site off my bucket list after nearly half a dozen failed attempts/visits.

EXIF and other information

Archive ID n21_104-5792
Date and Time 2009-04-02 11:04:33
GPS Date and Time Image does not include relevant information
GPS Location 40.39065 N, -74.18457 E, 370 ft (Goolgle Map: Pin | Directions)
Camera Nikon D200
Lens AF DX Fisheye-Nikkor 10.5mm f/2.8G ED
Focal Length 10.5 mm (35 mm equivalent: 15.0 mm)
Mode Manual
Shutter Speed 1/60 second(s)
Aperture f/11.0
ISO 100
Exposure Bias 0
Flash No
Filters None
Light Value 12.8
Hyperfocal Distance 0.48 m
Focus Distance 1.33 m
Depth of Field inf (0.35 m - inf)
Field of View 99.9 deg (3.18 m)
Tripod
Yes
Notes/Remarks ±3 stop and HDR using Photomatix Pro

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