Kepler mission astronomers, including co-investigator Bill Cochran of The University of Texas at Austin, announced today the spaceborne telescope has found five new gas giant planets orbiting close to Sun-like stars. More »
February 9: The Orion Nebula is a giant stellar nursery -- a cocoon of gas and dust that has given birth to thousands of stars. It is in the south on winter evenings. The nebula is a faint smudge of light just below the three bright stars that mark Orion’s Belt.
McDonald Observatory operates an international public outreach program, including the StarDate and Universo radio programs; StarDate magazine; StarDate Online and Universo Online websites.