Haystack Observatory

In this video, Jason Brewer of FOX 25 reports from MIT’s Kresge Oval, where an estimated 5,000 people gathered to watch the partial solar eclipse.

Dr. Phil Erickson of the Haystack Observatory speaks with Sarah Fecht of Popular Science about a study he co-authored showing that radio waves may protect the Earth’s atmosphere from space weather. “In the first hours to a couple of days into a solar storm, the waves seem to halt the electrons from coming in further,” says Erickson.

Vincent Fish, a research scientist at MIT’s Haystack Observatory, speaks with Hannah Osborne of Newsweek about the first attempt to capture an image of a black hole using the Event Horizon Telescope. “What we expect to see is an asymmetric image where you have a circular dark region,” says Fish. “That’s the black hole shadow.”

Astronomers are using data gathered by telescopes around the world to develop the first image of a black hole, according to the AFP. “All the data -- some 500 terabytes per station -- will be collected and flown on jetliners to the MIT Haystack Observatory in Massachusetts, where it will be processed by supercomputers.”

WGBH reporter Edgar Herwick visits the Haystack Observatory to learn about how astronomers are using radio telescopes to try to capture the first image of a black hole. "It’s a mind-blowing adventure, what the human mind and the human imagination can do with technology and science and creativity,” explains Haystack's Michael Hecht. 

Jonathan Amos reports for the BBC News that scientists around the world are close to obtaining the first image of a black hole. Data from multiple observatories will be compiled at MIT’s Haystack Observatory where “very smart imaging algorithms have had to be developed to make sense of the [Event Horizon Telescope]'s observations,” writes Amos.

Wired reporter Kathryn Nave speaks with research scientist Sheperd Doeleman about the Event Horizon Telescope project, which is aimed at imaging a black hole using telescopes stationed around the world. "We have good evidence there are black holes at the center of galaxies just from the orbits of stars around them, but we've never actually seen one," Doeleman explains. 

Dr. Michael Hecht speaks with Meghna Chakrabarti of WBUR’s Radio Boston about NASA’s discovery of water on Mars. Hecht says that the discovery “opens up a whole new avenue for using what nature gives us on Mars to help us explore.” 

Dennis Overbye of The New York Times speaks with Dr. Sheperd Doeleman about his work attempting to capture the first picture of a black hole. “If something is dancing around the edge of the black hole, it doesn’t get any more fundamental than that,” says Doeleman. “Hopefully we’ll find something amazing.”

Henry Hanks of CNN writes that MIT researchers have found that a protective field around Earth blocks high-energy electrons. “The phenomenon challenges existing theories that these electrons drift into the upper atmosphere and are destroyed by air molecules,” writes Hanks.

Researchers at the MIT Haystack Observatory have discovered that a phenomenon called “plasmaspheric hiss” prevents radiation from reaching Earth, reports Flora Graham for New Scientist. Graham explains that the plasmaspheric hiss is comprised of “very low-frequency electromagnetic waves,” which act like a radiation barrier.

“Scientists and engineers gathered on a suburban hillside to celebrate the history and future of a large and little-known radio telescope housed in a dome that looks a lot like Epcot Center,” writes Boston Globe reporter Carolyn Johnson of the 50^th anniversary of MIT’s Haystack Observatory. 

In an interview with Scientific American, Dr. Michael Hecht of MIT’s Haystack Observatory discusses the Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA), the world’s most powerful radio telescope. Hecht oversees the ALMA Phasing Project and explained that the Haystack Observatory will play a central role in processing the data gathered by ALMA. 

“MOXIE itself will be a reverse fuel cell, developed at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, converting CO2 into oxygen and carbon monoxide via solid oxide electrolysis,” writes Andy Extance in a piece for Scientific American. MOXIE is slated to be deployed on NASA’s next Martian rover.

Carolyn Johnson of The Boston Globe reports that a device designed by MIT researchers to demonstrate that it is possible to produce oxygen from carbon dioxide in the Martian atmosphere will be included on NASA’s Mars 2020 mission. “When humans go to Mars, we’d like to get them there, but we’d also like to get them home,” explains Dr. Michael Hecht.