New Astronomical Non-Profit Company Formed to Provide Outreach, Training, and Research Opportunities

MSRO Science, Inc., a non-profit 501(c)(3) corporation, offers research opportunities and hands-on training for amateur and professional astronomers all over the world using state-of-the-art remotely operated small-telescope observatories.

Recently incorporated as a 501(c)(3) research and education organization, MSRO Science, Inc. provides services and products to the public to fulfill its mission as a public benefit corporation. Services include providing observing time on its two currently operating small-telescope observatories, MSRO-1, and MSRO-2, and training materials, including manuals, documents, presentations, and videos. MSRO Science’s instructors and subject matter experts also offer live training, seminars, and presentations about the opportunities available to the public and the research being performed at the company.

MSRO Science, Inc. was originally founded in 2015 by President Dr. Myron Wasiuta and Vice-President Jerry Hubbell as the Mark Slade Remote Observatory (MSRO). The observatory members have been very active over the past 4 years, and the team is a leading innovator in remotely operated small-telescope observatories. The MSRO Team has been involved with doing cutting-edge observations of minor planets, variable stars, occultations, and exoplanets. In 2016, the MSRO was officially certified and assigned the observatory code W54 by the International Astronomical Union (IAU) Minor Planet Center (MPC).

Currently, the MSRO Team is a member of the NASA Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) Follow-up Observing Program Working Group (TFOP WG) SG1 section (seeing-limited observation group). TFOP WG SG1 is assigned to conduct the initial follow-up observations of TESS Targets-of-Interest (TOIs) to screen out false positives and also to make precise measurements for modeling the exoplanets and determining their ephemerides. VP Jerry Hubbell has been at the forefront of this work, which uses a unique instrument called an Engineered Diffuser™ developed by RPC Photonics of Rochester, NY. A paper was published in May 2019 Proceedings of the Society for Astronomical Sciences Symposium about this work.

For more information, contact Dr. Myron Wasiuta at president@msroscience.org.