Research at the Observatory

Find out what's happening under the domes this week.

Which Came First, the Black Hole or the Galaxy?

The myths about supermassive black holes are more fact than fiction, according to Myungshin Im's current research. Using the 2.1-meter Otto Struve Telescope together with an imaging camera he built, his research will observe how supermassive black holes became quasars billions of years ago.

Caption: The 2.1-meter (82-inch) Otto Struve Telescope at the University of Texas McDonald Observatory. Photo by Marty Harris/McDonald Observatory

More Featured Projects

The 2.7-meter (107-inch) Harlan J. Smith Telescope at the University of Texas Mc

Shedding Light on a Dark Halo

Graduate student Jeremy Murphy is studying the massive galaxy M87 to better understand the halo of dark matter that surrounds it.

The primary mirror of the Hobby-Eberly Telescope (HET) at McDonald Observatory.

NASA Astronomer of the Week: Fritz Benedict

As the saying goes, good planets are hard to find. Using our own richly endowed solar system as a model, one could add that a good place to look for planets is where you already know there are others.

Weighing a Black Hole

How do you weigh a black hole? Obviously, you can't plop it on top of your bathroom scale or heft it onto your grocer's produce balance. University of Texas astronomer Rob Robinson will attempt to weigh a black hole this week using the 2.1-meter Otto Struve Telescope.