The National Quiet Zone and The Green Bank Telescope, Green Bank, West Virginia
The National Quiet Zone and The Green Bank Telescope, Green Bank, West Virginia

Way back in a holler in the Allegheny Mountains of West Virginia is the Green Bank Radio Telescope, the largest moveable radio telescope on the planet.

A strict set of rules exist for the area around it and these rules are enforced.

This area is called The National Radio Quiet Zone (NRQZ).

It is a 100 square mile rectangle of land spanning both the Virginias designated as a radio quiet zone, in which radio transmissions are heavily restricted by law to promote scientific research and the gathering of military intelligence.

There is also a program called The Breakthrough Listen Project which is a search for extraterrestrial intelligence using the Green Bank telescope.