In our search for a perfect location for the Karl G. Janksy Very Large Array, the Plains of San Agustin in central New Mexico checked every box in a radio telescope site's needs: high, flat, dry, and rimmed with mountains to block man-made radio noise from the nearest cities.

During the last Ice Age, this 45-mile long, 12-mile wide expanse was filled by an enormous lake. Now dry, it has seen thousands of years of human occupation, a hundred years of cattle drives, and nearly half a century of world-class astrophysics research.