Maria Mitchell Observatory

It is also the repository for a valuable collection of over 8,000 wide-field (13° x 16°) glass photographic plates, recording observations of large swaths of sky from 1913 to 1995.

For more than 50 years, the observatory has offered summer research internships in astronomy and astrophysics for undergraduate students, funded by the National Science Foundation.

The importance of this work was recognized with a 2009 Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics, and Engineering Mentoring, given by President Barack Obama to the Maria Mitchell Association.

At this location there is also the larger 24-inch Richey-Chretian reflecting telescope, installed in 2006, which has been made accessible for public tours.

An aeronautical engineer by training, he has spent more than 30 years observing, building telescopes and observatories, photographing the heavens, and making photometric measurements of variable stars with CCD cameras.

Loines Observatory of the Maria Mitchell Association
The observatory's first director, Margaret Harwood .