This Area 51 panorama was taken by Paul Wilson from Tikaboo Peak on June 29, 2008. The extraordinary quality was accomplished by "stacking" multiple images to eliminate distortions. Publication here with friendly permission. Click in the preview below to download the full-size version. Note: Download may be slow due to the image size (958kB).
The new hangar, south-east of the old south ramp, appears to be finished. There may be a new taxi-way on the left, connecting the south side of the new hangar with runway 12/30. The mound of dirt, which partially blocks the view from Tikaboo, seems to be a permanent fixture.
Four towers with white round objects on top, most likely radar, have been added just east of the recently extended Hangar 19. From this angle the towers appear to be in line, but they may actually form a rectangle, which would be a more common configuration. Currently we have no further information on this new radar site. A similar new radio site is located on a hill about 4-5 miles north of the main base. Both radio sites were added between July 18, 2007 and June 1, 2008.
There are no visible changes around the new tower at the north end of the base since last summer. Whatever the tower is used for obviously does not require any significant buildings nearby. The new remote facility on the north side of Papoose Mountain can be seen in the back. On recent satellite photos it resembles a shooting range.