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May 22 Livestream from Inside the Otto Struve Telescope

Our 82-inch Otto Struve Telescope turns 85 years old this month! Join us from the telescope's control room as we celebrate by showing you what goes on behind the scenes, talk about the history of the telescope and the Observatory, and even go into some of the research (both past and present) done with this telescope!

How We Celebrated the April Eclipse

On Monday, April 8, a total solar eclipse swept across North America, from Mexico to Canada. Along the way, it traveled through the Lone Star State, giving Texans a second opportunity to see a solar eclipse within one year – an annular “ring of fire” eclipse was visible on October 14, 2023.

Astronomers Uncover Methane Emission on a Cold Brown Dwarf

Using new observations from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), astronomers have discovered methane emission on a brown dwarf, an unexpected finding for such a cold and isolated world. Published today in the journal Nature, the findings suggest that this brown dwarf might generate aurorae similar to those seen on our own planet as well as on Jupiter and Saturn.

UT Astronomers Use JWST to Probe an Extreme Starburst Galaxy

A team of astronomers, including two from The University of Texas at Austin, has used NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope to survey the starburst galaxy Messier 82 (M82). Located 12 million light-years away in the constellation Ursa Major, this galaxy is relatively compact in size but hosts a frenzy of star formation activity. For comparison, M82 is sprouting new stars 10 times faster than the Milky Way galaxy.