MIT Haystack Observatory

Near the border of New Hampshire and Massachusetts, MIT's Haystack Observatory is still a home of astronomical research despite the low altitude and not-so-dark skies, focusing its work in frequencies not so badly affected by the atmosphere.  Also on its grounds is the clubhouse of the Amateur Telescope Makers of Boston, where I used to go with my advisor, Gerry Sussman, to look at the stars and nebulae.  My favorite times were in the darkest deep of winter, when the sky was blackest crisp and clear and we went back and forth between observing and warming up in the darkened clubhouse with tea from Gerry's thermos.