Posts by McDonald Observatory
October 31, 2019
New Telescope Dedicated at McDonald Observatory
A new telescope was dedicated yesterday at The University of Texas at Austin’s McDonald Observatory. The 1-meter telescope, funded by the Heising-Simons Foundation, is part of the Las Cumbres Observatory (LCO) global network of robotic telescopes. “We are very pleased to […]
October 30, 2019
Giant Magellan Telescope Signs Contract for Telescope Structure
GMTO Corporation, the organization managing the development of the Giant Magellan Telescope (GMT) on behalf of its U.S. and international founders, has signed a contract with MT Mechatronics and Ingersoll Machine Tools to design, build and install the telescope’s precision steel […]
August 27, 2019
Newly Discovered Giant Planet Slingshots Around its Star
Astronomers at The University of Texas at Austin’s McDonald Observatory, along with colleagues at Caltech and elsewhere, have discovered a planet three times the mass of Jupiter that travels on a long, egg-shaped path around its star. If this planet […]
July 23, 2019
McDonald Observatory Will Promote Dark Skies Awareness with Gift from Apache Corporation
A $257,000 gift to The University of Texas at Austin’s McDonald Observatory from Apache Corporation will fund the observatory’s ongoing efforts to preserve the dark West Texas skies that make research possible and provide unsurpassed views of the universe to […]
July 17, 2019
The New Voice of StarDate
StarDate Radio is announcing today that Billy Henry is the program’s new voice. Henry, an Austin-based voice talent, musician, composer, and college lecturer, becomes the third narrator of the program in its 41-year history. He assumes the title from Sandy […]
July 1, 2019
StarDate’s Sandy Wood to Retire
Sandy Wood, the popular and charismatic announcer of the StarDate radio program, is retiring after 28 years on the air. Her final episode will air July 16. StarDate is the longest running nationally syndicated science program on American radio. Produced […]
May 22, 2019
Donation to UT Will Expand View of the Universe
David Booth, co-founder and executive chairman of Austin-based Dimensional Fund Advisors and a visionary philanthropist, has committed a $10 million gift to The University of Texas at Austin. His philanthropic investment will be used to advance Texas Science and the […]
May 3, 2019
McDonald Observatory’s 80th Anniversary Kicks Off at State Capitol
The University of Texas at Austin’s McDonald Observatory is celebrating its 80th anniversary, and it started today with an event at the Capitol. Senate Concurrent Resolution No. 60, authored by Texas state Sen. José Rodríguez to honor the anniversary, passed this […]
March 26, 2019
Two New Planets Discovered Using Artificial Intelligence
Astronomers at The University of Texas at Austin, in partnership with Google, have used artificial intelligence (AI) to uncover two more hidden planets in the Kepler space telescope archive. The technique shows promise for identifying many additional planets that traditional […]
February 20, 2019
Habitable Zone Planet Finder Enables Discovery of Planets Around Cool Stars with Hobby-Eberly Telescope
A new astronomical spectrograph provides the highest precision measurements to date of infrared signals from nearby stars, allowing astronomers to detect planets capable of having liquid water on their surfaces that orbit cool stars outside our solar system. The Habitable […]
January 9, 2019
Thousands of Stars Observed Turning into Crystals for the First Time
The first direct evidence of crystallized white dwarf stars has been discovered by an international team of researchers that includes an astronomer at The University of Texas at Austin. Predicted half a century ago, the direct evidence of these stars […]
January 8, 2019
J. Craig Wheeler Shares Chambliss Astronomical Writing Award
The American Astronomical Society (AAS) announced today at its semi-annual meeting in Seattle that J. Craig Wheeler and David Branch will share its Chambliss Astronomical Writing Award for 2019. Wheeler is the Samuel T. and Fern Yanagisawa Regents Professor of […]
December 12, 2018
Texas Astronomers Find that Dark Matter Dominates Across Cosmic Time
In findings published today in The Astrophysical Journal, University of Texas at Austin astronomers report that they have stumbled on an extraordinary galaxy that may corroborate a recently contested theory about dark matter. Dark matter is matter that does not give off […]
October 4, 2018
StarDate Radio Program Celebrates 40 Years
The longest running nationally aired science program is marking a major milestone. “StarDate” radio, produced by The University of Texas at Austin’s McDonald Observatory, celebrates 40 years on the nation’s airwaves. In its nearly 15,000 daily two-minute episodes, “StarDate” has brought […]