Haystack Observatory

Haystack Observatory is a multidisciplinary radio science center, ionospheric observatory, and astronomical microwave observatory owned by Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). It is in Westford, Massachusetts, in the United States, about northwest of Boston. The observatory was built by MIT's Lincoln Laboratory for the United States Air Force and was called the Haystack Microwave Research Facility. Construction began in 1960, and the antenna began operating in 1964. In 1970 the facility was transferred to MIT, which then formed the Northeast Radio Observatory Corporation (NEROC) with other universities to operate the site as the Haystack Observatory. , a total of nine institutions participated in NEROC.

The Haystack Observatory site is also the location of the Millstone Hill Geospace Facility, an atmospheric-sciences research center. Lincoln Laboratory continues to use the site, which it calls the Lincoln Space Surveillance Complex (LSSC). The George R. Wallace Astrophysical Observatory of MIT's Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences is south of the Haystack dome and east of the Westford dome. The Amateur Telescope Makers of Boston has its clubhouse on the MIT property.

Haystack Vallis on Mercury is named after this observatory. Provided by Wikipedia