Rebecca Gale Telescope Park

The Rebecca Gale Telescope Park is probably best known as the setting of our popular Star Parties. Located behind the Frank N. Bash Visitors Center, the park it is home to an extensive array of instruments used for both public programming and scientific research.

Telescopes in the park include:

• An 8.25-inch John Gregory Maksutov telescope
• A RCOS 16-inch Ritchey-Chrétien telescope, housed in a 20-foot Ash dome
• A 22-inch classical Cassegrain telescope, housed in a 20-foot Ash dome
• The Chow Telescope, a 20-inch Plane Wave Instruments telescope housed in an Ash dome
• A JMI NGT-12.5 12.5-inch telescope
• Several other 8-inch to 15-inch reflector telescopes commercially available from Orion Telescopes, Celestron Telescopes, and Meade Instruments
• A unique 18-inch telescope known as the Wren-Marcario Accessible Telescope, or WMAT

Visitors can look through these telescopes and others during Star Parties. However, only a selection will be publicly available during each program. Common objects on view include planets, galaxies, and more.

About the Wren-Marcario Accessible Telescope (WMAT)

The Wren-Marcario Accessible Telescope is designed to provide views of celestial objects for our visitors in wheelchairs. This is thanks to a fixed eyepiece, which remains stationary regardless of where the telescope is pointed. The telescope sits on a concrete pad and is surrounded by wide wheelchair paths.

In addition, computer control allows fast target acquisition for individual objects, or quick tours of the sky for a list of objects. This high-speed pointing system allows users a much greater level of participation in Star Parties than would otherwise be possible.

Dedicated in 2010, the telescope is named in honor of George B. Wren II (1917-1993), and Mike Marcario (1954-1998).

About the Chow Telescope

The Chow Telescope is a 20-inch Plane Wave Instruments telescope.

Las Cumbres Observatory Global Telescope (LCOGT), a global science and education astrophysics program operating twenty-five robotic telescopes at seven sites around the world, provided its dome and integrated the telescope into their global system.

The Chow Telescope is also used during Star Parties and other McDonald Observatory public programs. It gives elementary and secondary teachers and students access to a professional instrument for research and is used to train those teachers at the Observatory’s teacher workshops.

The telescope was jointly designed and built by Dr. Alan Chow and Wayne Rosing. It remains the property of Dr. Chow and is on loan for visitor center usage during public Star Parties and other viewing programs.

Acknowledgements

The Rebecca Gale Telescope Park is made possible by the dedication and generosity of many.

The original Public Observatory was dedicated in July of 1988 and was made possible through the generous donations of these Friends of McDonald Observatory: W. Jean Kachelries, Patsy Steves and the Marshall Steves, Jr., family, and Edwin Wiegand. This facility was in use at the original W.L. Moody Visitors Center, opened in 1982. In early 2002, all visitor center operations were moved to our current, larger, and more modern facility, the Frank N. Bash Visitors Center, which includes the Rebecca Gale Telescope Park.

Many of the telescopes in the park are available thanks to donors.

• RCOS 16-inch Ritchey-Chrétien telescope: Donated by Mr. Wayne Rosing of the Las Cumbres Observatory Global Telescope Network.
• 22-inch classical Cassegrain telescope: Donated by the late Larry Forrest of Austin, Texas.
• Chow Telescope: Major supporters of the Chow Telescope are Dr. Alan Chow, Las Cumbres Observatory Global Telescope, Wayne Rosing and Dorothy Largay, the estate of Leopold Tedesco, and the Frank & Susan Bash Endowed Chair for the Director of the McDonald Observatory.
• 22-inch Newtonian telescope: Donated by the late Larry Forrest of Austin, Texas. The telescope also uses an 8-inch eyepiece scope designed, built, and donated by the late John Gregory.
• JMI NGT-12.5 12.5-inch telescope: Funds donated by the Alva Carlton family.
• Meade LX-90 telescope: Donated by Frank and Bonnie McElvaney.
• Wren-Marcario Accessible Telescope: Made possible by donations from Wayne Rosing and Dorothy Largay, Mike and Shirley Marcario, Mike I. and Dee Jones, Bill and Becky Wren, and anonymous donors.
• Obsession 15-inch Dobsonian telescope: Donated by Dr. William Rohr of Fort Worth, Texas.

Thank you to all who have and continue to support McDonald Observatory and our mission to advance humanity’s understanding of the universe.