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Geminid Meteor Shower Peaks Night of December 13/14

This will be a great year to view the Geminid meteor shower. It is expected to peak the night of December 13/14. That is close to the new moon on December 12, meaning there will be little moonlight to interfere with the show. The full duration of the Geminids is November 19 to December 24.

Ghostlike Dusty Galaxy Reappears in JWST Image

It first appeared as a glowing blob from ground-based telescopes and then vanished completely in images from the Hubble Space Telescope. Now, the ghostly object has reappeared as a faint, yet distinct galaxy in an image from the James Webb Space Telescope.

Astronomers with the COSMOS-Web collaboration have identified the object AzTECC71 as a dusty star-forming galaxy. Or, in other words, a galaxy that’s busy forming many new stars but is shrouded in a dusty veil that’s hard to see through — from nearly 1 billion years after the Big Bang.

Discovery of Planet Too Big for Its Sun Throws Off Models of Solar System Formation

The discovery of a planet that is far too massive for its sun is calling into question what was previously understood about the formation of planets and their solar systems.

“Nature is a lot cleverer than we are!” says William Cochran, research professor at UT Austin and co-author on the paper, published November 30. “Planet formation can take place in a lot of circumstance we had not necessarily expected.”

The discovery of this surprising planet-star pairing was made using cutting edge instruments on the McDonald Observatory's Hobby-Eberly Telescope.

Teacher Workshops at McDonald Observatory

For over 20 years, McDonald Observatory has offered a spectacular setting and enriching content for teacher professional development. In summer 2023, we hosted five onsite workshops, complete with telescope tours, discussions with resident researchers, and nighttime observations.Check out our 2023 summer workshops and learn about our offerings for 2024.

The Giant Magellan Telescope’s Final Mirror Fabrication Begins

The University of Texas at Austin’s McDonald Observatory and other Giant Magellan Telescope partners today shared in announcing the casting of the final primary mirror for the world’s largest telescope. The Giant Magellan Telescope begins the four-year process to fabricate and polish its seventh mirror, the last required to complete the telescope’s 386-square-meter (1,266-square-foot) light collecting surface, the world’s largest and most challenging optics ever produced.