Projects

Most of our research is related to predicting and observing stellar occultations by Pluto and Kuiper Belt objects (KBO). Wallace Observatory also monitors extrasolar planet ("exoplanet") transits, measures asteroid light curves (to determine spin vectors and shapes of main belt asteroids), and to predicts shadow paths for stellar occultations by Pluto and other solar system bodies. Future observing plans include asteroid rotation lightcurves, molecular clouds/star-forming regions, follow-up work on near-Earth objects, comets, and Kuiper belt objects. We also have the ability to track man-made objects such as low-earth orbit satellites (LEOs) and Cubesats.

Journal Article Publications

Some articles may be available through the ADS Abstract Service.

• P. Grenfell, Serra, P., Cierny, O., Kammerer, W., Gunnison, G., Kusters, J., Payne, C., Cahoy, K., Clark, M., Ritz, T., Coogan, D., Conklin, J., Mayer, D., Stupl, J., and Hanson, J.
  Design and Prototyping of a Nanosatellite Laser Communications Terminal for the Cubesat Laser Infrared CrosslinK (CLICK) B/C Mission
  34th AIAA/USU Conference on Small Satellites, 2020.
• O. Cierny, Serra, P., Kammerer, W., Grenfell, P., Gunnison, G., Kusters, J., Payne, C., Pereira, Pdo Vale, Cahoy, K., Ritz, T., Conklin, J., Mayer, D., Stupl, J., and Hanson, J.
  Testing of the CubeSat Laser Infrared CrosslinK (CLICK-A) Payload
  34th AIAA/USU Conference on Small Satellites, 2020.
• Figura, Joe ; Haughwout, Christian ; Cahoy, Kerri ; Welle, Richard ; Hardy, Brian ; Pack, Dee ; Bosh, Amanda
  Initial Demonstration of an Uplink LED Beacon to a Low Earth Orbiting CubeSat
  JoSS, Vol. 7, No. 2, pp. 719–732, 2018.
• Brothers, Timothy 2018.
  45 Years of Telescope Automation at MIT’s Wallace Astrophysical Observatory
  Vol 1 No 1 (2018): Robotic Telescope, Student Research and Education Proceedings
• Sullivan, Peter W.; Croll, Bryce; Simcoe, Robert A. 2013
  Precision of a Low-Cost InGaAs Detector for Near Infrared Photometry
  Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific, Volume 125, issue 931, pp.1021-1030
• WINN J, ADAMS E, LOCKHART M, et al. 2009
  The Transit Ingress and the Tilted Orbit of the Extraordinarily Eccentric Exoplanet HD 80606b.
  The Astrophysical Journal, Volume 703, Issue 2, pp. 2091-2100 (2009).
• Stephen M. Slivan, Richard P. Binzel, Mikko Kaasalainen, Andrew N. Hock, Alison J. Klesman, Laura J. Eckelman, Robert D. Stephens 2009
  Spin vectors in the Koronis family II. Additional clustered spins, and one stray.
  Icarus, Volume 200, Issue 2, April 2009, Pages 514-530.
• SLIVAN, S. M., BINZEL, R. P., CRESPO DA SILVA, L. D., KAASALAINEN, M., LYNDAKER, M. M., AND KRCO, M. 2003.
  Spin Vectors in the Koronis Family: Comprehensive Results from Two Independent Analyses of 213 Rotation Lightcurves.
  Icarus, vol. 162, pp. 285-307.
• SLIVAN, S. M. 2002.
  Spin Vector Alignment of Koronis Family Asteroids.
  Nature, vol. 419, pp. 49-51.
• S. W. MCDONALD AND J. L. ELLIOT 2000
  TRITON STELLAR OCCULTATION CANDIDATES: 2000-`2009.
  THE ASTRONOMICAL JOURNAL, 119:936È944, 2000 February
• SLIVAN, STEPHEN M., NIELSEN, ERIC D., AND RIVKIN, TYRA E. 1998.
  Rotation Period and Solar Phase Coefficients of 415 Palatia.
  Minor Planet Bulletin, vol. 25, no. 3, pp. 23-25.
• FOUST, JEFFREY A., ELLIOT, J. L., OLKIN, CATHERINE B., MCDONALD, STEPHEN W., DUNHAM, EDWARD W., STONE, REMINGTON P.S., MCDONALD, JOHN S., AND STONE, RONALD C. 1996.
  Determination of the Charon-Pluto Mass Ratio from Center-of-Light Astrometry.
  Icarus, vol. 126, issue 2, pp. 362-372.
• MCDONALD, S. W., AND ELLIOT, J. L. 1996.
  Pluto-Charon Stellar Occultation Candidates: 1996-1999.
  Astronomical Journal, vol. 112, p. 788.
• SLIVAN, S. M. AND BINZEL, R. P. 1996.
  Forty-eight New Rotation Lightcurves of 12 Koronis Family Asteroids.
  Icarus, vol. 124, no. 2, pp. 452-470.
• MCDONALD, S. W., AND ELLIOT, J. L. 1995.
  Triton Stellar Occultation Candidates: 1995-1999.
  Astronomical Journal, vol. 109, no. 3, pp. 1352-1362.
• MCDONALD, S. W., AND ELLIOT, J. L. 1992.
  Triton Stellar Occultation Candidates: 1992-1994.
  Astronomical Journal, vol. 104, no. 2, pp. 862-879.
• DUNHAM, E. W., MCDONALD, S. W., AND ELLIOT, J. L. 1991.
  Pluto-Charon Stellar Occultation Candidates: 1990-1995.
  Astronomical Journal, vol. 102, pp. 1464-1484.
• PETERSON, DEANE M., BARON, R., DUNHAM, E. W., MINK, D., AND ALDERING, G. 1989.
  Lunar occultations of Praesepe. II - Massachusetts.
  Astronomical Journal, vol. 98, pp. 2156-2158.
• SADUN, A. C. AND RESSLER, M. 1986
  Photometric Observations of the dwarf Cepheid XX Cygni.
  Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific, Vol. 98, pp. 504-506.
• Meech, K. J. 1983
  Photoelectric sequences for EX Hydrae, V2051 Ophiuchi, and VV Puppis
  Astronomical Society of the Pacific, Publications (ISSN 0004-6280), vol. 95, Sept. 1983, p. 662-665.
• Peterson, D. M., Baron, R. L., Dunham, E., & Mink, D.1980
  Lunar occultations of the Hyades. II - August 1980
  Astronomical Journal, vol. 86, July 1981, p. 1090-1097.
• PETERSON, D. M., BARON, R. L., DUNHAM, E., MINK, D., ELLIOT, J. L. AND WEEKES, T. C. 1981.
  Lunar occultations of the Hyades - 1979-1980.
  Astronomical Journal, vol. 86, pp. 280-289.
• GETTYS, J. AND SCHILD, R. 1977
  A Photometric Peculiarity Index in the Ap Stars.
  Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific, Vol. 89, pp. 519-523.
• MCCORD, T.B., 1976
  The George R. Wallace Jr. Astrophysical Observatory.
  Bull. Am. Astron. Soc., Vol. 8, p. 267 - 268
  
• BROOKES, M. 1974.
  An Inexpensive Automatic Telescope Dome Controller.
  Reviews of Scientific Instrumentation, vol. 45, no. 11, pp. 1372-1374.
• MCCORD, T. B., SNELLEN, G., AND PAAVOLA, S. 1972
  The MIT Automated Astrophysical Observatory.
  Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific, vol. 84, pp. 220 ff.

Graduate Theses

Some articles may be available through the DSpace@MIT.

• Geykhman, Roman O.
  The effect of differential color refraction on astrometric observations of Solar System bodies and Earth satellites from ground-based optical telescopes
  Thesis (PhD), Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2019.
• Riesing, Kathleen  
  Portable optical ground stations for satellite communication
  Thesis (PhD), Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2018.
• Ruprecht, Jessica Dawn
  Astronomical studies of solar system bodies 2060 Chiron and 1 Ceres
  Thesis (S.M.), Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences, 2013.
• LOCKHART, M. 2009.
  A Transit-Timing Variation Study of the Extrasolar Planet TrES-3
  S.M. thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
• WU, J.P. 2002.
  Demonstration of Wallace Astrophysical Observatory's 24-Inch Telescope Upgrade
  S.M. thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
• SLIVAN, S. M. 1995.
  Spin-Axis Alignment of Koronis Family Asteroids
  PhD thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
• CONNER, S. R. 1984.
  Photometry of Hyperion
  S.M. thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Undergraduate Theses

Some articles may be available through the DSpace@MIT.

• Gibson, Stephanie
  Comparison of PSF Fitting Methods for Determining Centroids of Stars
  Thesis (B.S.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences, 2013.
• Henderson, Phoebe J. Rotationally
  Resolved Visible Spectroscopy of the Asteroid 1 Ceres
  Thesis (B.S.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences, 2013.
• ROJAS, E. R. 2008.
  Evaluation, Design, and Construction of the Wallace Astrophysical Observatory Camera for Astronomical Observations
  S.B. thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
• FONG, W. 2008.
  Extrasolar Planet Transit Photometry as Wallace Astrophysical Observatory
  S.B. thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
• COLE, S. J. 2008.
  Lightcurve Photometry of the Koronis family: Studying Asteroids (1245) Calvinia and (1068) Nofretet
  S.B. thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
• McEwen, H. K. 2004.
  Magellan Instant Camera Testbed
  S.B. thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
• KLESMAN, A. J. 2003.
  Direction of Spin of Koronis Family Member (1289) Kutaïssi
  S.B. thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
• WU, J. P. 2000.
  Optical Analysis of the Wallace Observatory 24-Inch and Magellan I 6.5-Meter Telescopes
  S.B. thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
• NIELSEN, E. D. 1999.
  Two New Koronis Family Light Curves
  S.B. thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
• WISEMAN, J. J. 1987.
  CCD Photometry of Comet P/Wiseman-Skiff
  S.B. thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology.