Haystack Observatory

The Haystack Observatory is located in a complex of radio antennas in the hills above Westford and Tyngsboro. Inside the facility's dome is a 120 foot diameter steerable radio dish, built by the Air Force in 1963, and designed by MIT's Lincoln Lab. Ownership has since been transferred from the military to MIT, and the antenna is now used mostly by the Northeast Radio Observatory Corporation, a consortium of 13 educational institutions. It is used for astronomical observations by the Universities, and for space surveillance and debris tracking by the Air Force.