MIT Wallace Astrophysical Observatory

50 Groton Road, Westford, MA 01886 / MIT Bldg: OC-21 / MPC 810 / 42° 36' 35" N x 71° 29' 04" W




Sky Conditions at Wallace
Link to ALLSKY camera site

CLICK for an interactive LIVE image.

Night Sky Brightness
Sky Quality Meter Trend

The night sky magnitude represents how bright our sky is directly overhead.  To see the Milky Way, this number must be > than 20.2.   

Sky Quality Meter Current Readings
Current Observing Conditions
weather

Live data from at Wallace Observatory from our SkyAlert weather sensor.

    Clear Sky Clock (48hrs)
CSC
As you may have noticed, the sky is getting brighter. This is not good for our research and it is not good for your nighttime environment. We will soon be posting more info on how you can help. In the meantime, please turn off unecessary lighting at night. Thanks!

What's Up?

The 2023 fall semester has begun! MIT undergraduates who take course 12.410, Observational Techniques of Optical Astronomy will soon begin observing projects. Student observations will conclude on October 31st, after which science programs will resume.

This summer was a busy one - we had several successful campaigns, including: determining spin properties of Koronis asteroids, monitoring Pluto's brightness and observations of exoplanets discovered by the TESS satellite. One of our latest upgrades to the observatory is a new refractor, capable of making wide field measurements in Sloan and narrowband filters. We have also made significant strides this summer in automating the Elliot 24-inch telescope - a system that is capable of operating with no human input for weeks at a time.

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About
Established 1971

A teaching and research facility run by the planetary astronomy lab in the Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences (EAPS) at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

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Clear Skies!

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