Renovation of the Wallace Astrophysical Observatory Telescopes

MIT's Wallace Astrophysical Observatory plays host to a vast majority of MIT students with an interest in astronomy. Utilized for classes and numerous UROP projects, the observatory is in almost constant use throughout the year. Continued renovation is critical in maintaining the high-quality standards expectedfor a world-leading astronomy education. Support from the Alumni Class Funds and the Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences will transform a much-needed renovation into an opportunity to drastically improve the quality of hardware on offer to students by enabling the upgrade of aging CCD detectors with state-of-the-art CMOS detectors and the full replacement of a failing telescope. Huge leaps in sensitivity afforded by the new CMOS detectors promise the ability to study fainter objects, opening a large-range projects hitherto out of reach of previous MIT students.