Explore the Observatory!
A General Admission ticket includes entry to the Visitors Center exhibit gallery and a self-guided tour of both summits. A map is provided with your ticket.
Exhibits Gallery
Learn about the questions we study in astronomy, how research is done, and what we’re learning about the universe.
Our exhibits share:
- How astronomers, through a method called spectroscopy, collect starlight, break it into a spectrum of colors, and analyze the spectrum to learn about stars, galaxies, and other components of the universe
- A real-time spectrum of the light from our closest star, the Sun
- The importance of dark night skies and ways to lower light pollution
- The history of McDonald Observatory and its contributions to the field of astronomy
Mount Locke and Mount Fowlkes
You may drive your own vehicle to both summits. Trailers and RVs over 20 feet are not allowed at the summits due to steep grades and difficulty parking and turning around.
At the summit of Mount Locke, the views are stunning on a clear day. You may explore the ground floor lobby of the 107-inch Harlan J. Smith Telescope, which features a short video about it. The 82-inch Otto Struve Telescope is not accessible to the public.
At the summit of Mount Fowlkes, you can see the largest telescope in North America and the second largest in the world, the Hobby-Eberly Telescope (HET). The George T. Abell Gallery at the telescope features informative videos explaining its history and scientific uses, including the current Hobby-Eberly Telescope Dark Energy Experiment (HETDEX), which will produce the largest map of the cosmos and uncover the nature of dark energy. A large panoramic window allows up-close views of this unique telescope.