The Mysterious Phenomenon Called "Steve" Discovered by Amateur Photographers YouTube video by Real Stories

STEVE: viral auroral phenomenon, confusing acronym choice! (It's Strong Thermal Emission Velocity Enhancement)

Haystack is one of the organizers of an NSF conference where citizen aurora chasers and geospace scientists collaborate to solve the mysteries of STEVE.

youtu.be/b4WlLbJoCSs?...

Pink and green aurora in the sky next to a large white dome

A woman smiling and pointing an antenna at the camera

A box full of electronics and wires

Happy World Radio Day! More than just broadcasting: radio science lets us explore the universe beyond optical wavelengths.

A man standing in front of a large white dome

Applications to our REU summer undergraduate internship program are due Feb. 1! Come work with us 😁

www.haystack.mit.edu/haystack-pub...

Thank you, Dr. West!

Congratulations to @kazuakiyama.bsky.social and colleagues! Good news for black hole research and for science. We will miss you but are very happy for you and @heriotwattuni.bsky.social!

We use it to help image black holes and keep your GPS and universal time accurate! Very handy #interferometry #ftw

A group of 11 students standing outside on building steps, with a large white dome in the background

We are now accepting applications for our summer 2026 undergraduate research program!

www.haystack.mit.edu/reu

Please share with undergraduates interested in working with us! ✨ It's a great way to get experience with hands-on research and learn more—a lot more—about radio science in action.

Michael J. Buonsanto Memorial Lecture Series - MIT Haystack Observatory Radio science & technology research center

This year's annual Buonsanto Memorial Lecture is next week! On Tuesday, November 25, 2025, at 3:00pm ET, Dr. Anthea Coster will present "Above the Clouds, Below the Stars: Chasing Ionospheric Storms." For more information, see www.haystack.mit.edu/buonsanto. Please join us!

Cosmic dawn: the search for the primordial hydrogen signal – Physics World Sarah Wild talks to astronomers across the world who are on a hunt for a subtle hydrogen signal that could confirm or disprove our ideas on the universe’s evolution

Check out the new @physicsworld.bsky.social article on Haystack's trail-blazing EDGES experiment and astronomers' quest to detect primordial hydrogen:

physicsworld.com/a/cosmic-daw...

In it, Sarah Wild interviews Rigel Cappallo, one of the scientists on Haystack's inventive EDGES team!

A man sitting in front of a slide for the Distinguished Lecture at CEDAR/GEM 2025

Congratulations to Haystack director Phil Erickson! Phil gave the prestigious CEDAR Distinguished Lecture on June 23 at the recent 2025 NSF joint Coupling, Energetics, and Dynamics of Atmospheric Regions (CEDAR) and Geospace Environment Modeling (GEM) Workshop.

www.haystack.mit.edu/news/erickso...

people clapping in an audience sitting at small tables

a man registering attendees at a conference welcoming table

a group of conference attendees standing on an inside stairway looking up at the camera

It's #NEWSDR time again (already)!

The New England Workshop for Software Defined Radio is May 29-30 @wpiedu.bsky.social (WPI): newsdr.org/workshops/ne...

Haystack researchers Ryan Volz & Kazu Akiyama will give invite talks this year!

Register by May 22 to attend:

newsdr.org/workshops/ne...

SCIENCE: Already making stuff great! (sign)

Science is for everyone! except nazis (sign)

Science is America's superpower! (sign)

At Boston Common in support of science—America's superpower—already making stuff great! #marchforscience #standupforscience

Team sent to Antarctica to measure ice shelf stability - MIT Haystack Observatory Radio science & technology research center

In Antarctica right now, a Haystack team is preparing 3 SGIPs (seismo-geodetic ice penetrators) to land on the Ross Ice Shelf and monitor ice melting and movement.

The SGIP devices will be dropped by helicopters and embedded into the ice: more at www.haystack.mit.edu/news/team-se... polar #geodesy

Larisa Goncharenko accepting her award as AGU 2024 Union Fellow under a large purple sign

Larisa Goncharenko at the AGU 2024 Union Fellows award ceremony

Congratulations to Larisa Goncharenko on her AGU 2024 Union Fellow award, for incredible accomplishments in atmospheric research and contributions to the geospace science community!

www.haystack.mit.edu/news/lpg-agu...

Hi! We have a geodesy research and technology group and would love to connect with others in this field! 👋

Larisa Goncharenko speaking at AGU24

Geospace lead scientist & asst. director (spoiler alert: & also newly elected AGU Fellow—more on this after a special honors award ceremony tonight!) Larisa Goncharenko, speaking at #agu24 on "Separation of Disturbances from Natural and Anthropogenic Sources in the Ionosphere Above Ukraine"!

A man standing next to a scientific poster

A man standing next to a scientific poster

A man standing next to a scientific poster

Hello from the AGU Annual Meeting 2024! Having a great time with our ~27,000 close friends here at #agu24 in Washington, DC! Check out our AGU talks and posters on the MIT Haystack program—and please come say hello if you're here!

www.haystack.mit.edu/agu24_haysta... (our #AGU schedule)

Hello undergraduates and faculty: applications for our summer science internships are open! This NSF-funded program provides excellent, paid hands-on research opportunities. Full project list & more:

www.haystack.mit.edu/reu

Come work w/us at MIT—black holes, polar snow, & more!
#radioastronomy

It might be after Thanksgiving that you get an email, too! But let’s make it happen

Yes please. You will receive an email about this! 😁

NICOLLLLE this is great and also very on-brand for us 🤣 Come back for a visit sometime! We will celebrate your triumphant return

‎Black Hole Vision ‎What would the world around you look like if you were staring at a black hole? This application places a black hole in the field of view of your iPhone’s camera and gravitationally

What would the world around you look like if you were staring at a black hole? To see it, check out ``Black Hole Vision'', an iPhone app simulating a black hole in your iPhone camera! The app has been developed by Black Hole Explorer (BHEX) scientists.
#astronomy
apps.apple.com/us/app/black...

a woman standing next to three people outside, holding a flat black antenna pointed at the camera

a person in a red hat holding an antenna pointed to the left of the viewer, with three others in the background, standing outside

two people looking at a computer monitor with a laptop and a sandwich on the table; one person is pointing at the screen

We had a great time hosting the #NSF #SpectrumX workshop, including students and staff from institutions across the country! Spectrum management: more important now than ever.

Thank you for a productive visit—looking forward to getting this new technology out in the field with you! #radioastronomy

Hi Tara! We'd love to be included, and also look forward to working together with the community! Thank you for this 😀

a group of undergraduate students working on a technical device near a computer monitor

Couple of highlights this week:

• Shipping out not one but TWO Antarctic projects (ice monitoring, polar aurora), PLUS a scientist (heads-up, #mcmurdo)

• Software radio construction w/students and SpectrumX, a #NationalScienceFoundation spectrum management center—essential work today

More soon!

Please keep your hands and feet within the ride at all times, along with the rest of you. And hang on to your hats and glasses! 😁

A large white dome-shaped radio telescope enclosure surrounded by green trees; a smaller domed enclosure is off to the left and there are several outbuildings

HELLO EVERYONE! This is MIT Haystack Observatory, a radio science research facility and home of the Haystack 37-meter radio telescope. Please follow for radio science updates in #astronomy (black holes & more), plus space weather, geodesy (the science of measuring the Earth), & space technology! 💫

This is the official account of MIT Haystack Observatory, a radio science observatory with a 37-meter radio astronomy telescope, other large astronomy facilities, and a research group of MIT astrophysicists.

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