Introduction

The Neil Armstrong Air & Space Museum (NAASM) is one of over 60 historical sites in the state of Ohio operated by the Ohio Historical Society (OHS). In the year 2000 a group of volunteers who had been operating the "Big Ear" radio telescope (destroyed by land developers in 1998) met with several staff people of OHS to discuss the possibility of donating historical artifacts from the Big Ear. The Ohio Historical Center in Columbus, Ohio agreed to keep the computer printout showing the famous "Wow!" signal. Also, the Director of the Neil Armstrong Air & Space Museum said that they would create an appropriate display celebrating the Big Ear radio telescope and the "Wow!" signal. Photos of that display were taken in November 2001 and are shown below.

Directions

The NAASM is located in western Ohio. The full address and phone numbers are:

   Neil Armstrong Air & Space Museum
   500 South Apollo Drive
   Wapakoneta, Ohio 45895-0978

   The phone numbers are: 800-860-0142 and 419-738-8811.

The Big Ear Display

When Dr. Ehman visited the Neil Armstrong Air & Space Museum (NAASM) in November 2001, he saw their display about the Big Ear radio telescope and the "Wow!" signal located in a display case near the Shuttle Landing Simulator (see the leftmost photo). The front panel of the display case had the word "WOW" pasted on it (see the rigthmost photo).

Dr. Ehman asked the Director of NAASM if he were willing to remove the front glass so that pictures could be taken; that he did. The two photos shown here (as well as the other photos shown below) were taken with that front glass removed. The leftmost photo was taken using flash, and the rightmost photo was taken without flash. Both photos leave something to be desired. The flash glared off the clear protective covering in the central portion of the display. On the other hand, usiing no flash caused some portions of the display to have poor visibility.

The central portion of the display has some text relating the question: "Is Anybody Out There?" to the narrowband search program at the Big Ear and its detection of the "Wow!" signal. Note that the narrowband search program included the Search for Extraterrestial Intelligence (SETI) but had the capability of detecting any natural narrowband signals as well (e.g., the spectral line of neutral hydrogen - it could have detected others as well if the frequency of observation were changed).

The January 2000 issue of National Geographic magazine had an article (starting on page 24) entitled "Life Beyond Earth" written by Joel Achenbach. On pages 38 & 39 there was a section with the title "Are We Alone? - A Human History of Wondering Who or What Is Out There". The display case contained a copy of that National Geographic issue opened to those two pages.

Both the flat reflector and the paraboloidal (curved) reflector of the former Big Ear radio telescope were constructed of steel wire mesh. This photo shows a section of that mesh taken just before the telescope was destroyed by land developers in 1998. This mesh acted as a mirror to the radio waves even though we can see right through it visually. This is because the wavelengths of any visible light photon is much smaller than the spacing of the wires in the mesh. On the other hand, at the radio wavelengths we were using in our observing programs on the Big Ear, the wavelengths of those radio photons were much larger than the spacing of the wires, so the mesh acted as a reflector (mirror).

Here are pages 38 & 39 of the January 2000 issue of National Geographic magazine. I suggest that you click on each image to obtain a larger version for easier viewing.

When Dr. Ehman saw the sequence "6EQUJ5" on the computer printout, he knew very quickly what he was seeing, and being quite astonished at seeing the strongest narrowband signal he had ever seen, he wrote "Wow!" in red pen in the margin of the computer printout. This photo is a copy of the relevant portion of that computer printout. [Note. The meaning of "6EQUJ5" is available by going to menu item on the home page of this website dealing with the "Wow!" signal.

The National Geographic magazine refers to a "researcher" in this caption without identifying who that researcher is. Of course, it is Dr. Ehman.

These two photos show another portion of the display. The leftmost photo was taken in ambient light while flash was used for the rightmost photo. Of course, glare of the flash detracts from the second photo. This portion of the display shows (although not very well due to the difficulty of obtaining a good-quality photo) a copy of the full page of the computer printout and, below that, an aerial photo of the Big Ear radio telescope.

Outdoor Pictures

The three photos below show the NAASM building in the distance and the entrance to that building (in the third photo in the sequence).

A mock-up of a Gemini Spacecraft and a mock-up of an Apollo Command Module are located outside the building. The second photo shows the text on a plaque describing these two mock-ups.

Near the parking lot is this Douglas F5D Skylancer that Neil Armstrong flew. The plaque provides information about this.