MIT's Infinite Solar System Tours
Schedule
Sat, 08 Nov, 2025 at 11:00 am
UTC-05:00Location
MIT Building 7 — 3rd Floor | Cambridge, MA
About this Event
Be a planetary explorer!
This 30-minute tour of our Infinite Solar System exhibit — with planetary models precisely scaled to the length of MIT’s Infinite Corridor — is full of fun facts about our solar neighborhood, with Professor Emeritus and renowned Pluto expert Richard Binzel as your guide.
Suitable for ages 5-105!
Starting point of the tour is MIT's Building 7, third floor lobby balcony.
Enter at 77 Massachusetts Avenue and head across the lobby to the elevators. Hit the button for the 3rd floor and get ready for launch!
Can't join us for a guided tour? No problem!
Take a self-guided tour of the Infinite Solar System anytime during MIT visiting hours.
— part thought experiment, part art exhibit, and mind-expanding for all ages!
Or simply watch Professor Binzel's recorded lecture about the exhibit, our amazing solar system, and space exploration!
About Richard Binzel, your planetary guide and exhibit creator:
Richard Binzel is one of the world’s leading scientists in the study of asteroids and Pluto and inventor of the Torino Scale — a method for categorizing the impact hazards associated with near-Earth objects (NEOs) such as asteroids and comets.
Binzel is a co-investigator on a number of NASA missions to explore our solar neighborhood, including the New Horizons mission to Pluto, OSIRIS-REx asteroid sample return mission (now on it's way to visit asteroid Apophis and renamed OSIRIS-APEX), as well as the current Psyche and Lucy asteroid investigations.
Binzel joined the faculty at MIT in 1988, authoring hundreds of papers and mentoring generations of students. Asteroid number 2873 bears his name, an honor bestowed by the International Astronomical Union in recognition of his contributions to the field. In 2017, Binzel was recognized by NASA with a Silver Achievement Award, the second highest award that can be bestowed on a civilian (non-government) scientist.
Sponsored by the Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences at MIT
In EAPS, we are driven to answer profound questions about the natural world—and our place in it.
Every day, our faculty and students conduct discovery-driven research, with broad-reaching implications — whether studying the climate system or environmental disruptions, natural resources or natural hazards, the origins of the solar system or the tantalizing prospect of finding life beyond Earth.
Learn more about how we're working to provide vital data and context for the innovators and decision-makers who are taking on some of humanity’s biggest challenges:
Where is it happening?
MIT Building 7 — 3rd Floor, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, United StatesEvent Location & Nearby Stays:
USD 0.00
