Regents Authorize $50 Million for UT Austin Share in Giant Magellan Telescope

The University of Texas System Board of Regents Friday authorized UT Austin to spend $50 million to participate in building the Giant Magellan Telescope project, which will be the world’s largest telescope when it’s completed in 2020. The project will give students, researchers and faculty the opportunity to make groundbreaking discoveries in astronomy.
GMT

GMT Poised to Enter Construction Phase

The upcoming world’s largest telescope has passed two critical milestones, according to founding partner The University of Texas at Austin. The Giant Magellan Telescope (GMT) has passed major reviews on its design and cost estimates and is ready to proceed to construction.
Taft Armandroff

Taft Armandroff to be Director of McDonald Observatory

Astronomer Taft Armandroff has been appointed the new director of the McDonald Observatory. Currently director of the W. M. Keck Observatory, located on the summit of Mauna Kea in Hawaii, Armandroff will join the observatory in June. He will succeed current director David Lambert.
GMT 3rd mirror

GMT's Third Mirror Unveiled

The Giant Magellan Telescope’s third primary mirror was unveiled at the University of Arizona’s Steward Observatory Mirror Lab on December 6. The University of Texas at Austin is a partner in the project to build the GMT, along with several other universities and institutions in the U.S. and around the world. [GMTO photo]

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HET w/crane

HET Upgrade Under Way

Engineers and astronomers are working on upgrading the Hobby-Eberly Telescope in preparation to begin the HET Dark Energy Experiment (HETDEX). Read about the telescope upgrade, and find out more about HETDEX, a project to study one of the most fundamental mysteries in science today. (Photo by David Doss/McDonald Observatory)

Celebrate Our 75th!

Celebrate Our 75th!

Share your memories and see what we're planning around Texas. 

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In the Sky

Mar 9: Moon and Jupiter

As darkness falls this evening the planet Jupiter, the third-brightest object in the night sky, stands close to the upper left of the brightest: the Moon.

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