Posts by McDonald Observatory
February 3, 2011
First Stars in the Universe Weren’t Lonely
The first stars to form in the universe were not as lonely as previously thought. These are the findings of an international collaboration between researchers at the Center of Astronomy at Heidelberg University, the Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics in […]
February 2, 2011
Kepler Finds Earth-Size Planet Candidates in Habitable Zone, Six Planet System
NASA’s Kepler mission has discovered its first Earth-size planet candidates and its first candidates in the habitable zone, a region where liquid water could exist on a planet’s surface. Five of the potential planets are both near Earth-size and orbit […]
January 25, 2011
First Light for VIRUS-W Spectrograph
The new observing instrument VIRUS-W, built by the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics and the University Observatory Munich, saw “first light” November 10 on McDonald Observatory’s 2.7-meter Harlan J. Smith Telescope in West Texas. Its first images of a […]
January 12, 2011
Astronomers ‘Weigh’ Heaviest Known Black Hole in our Cosmic Neighborhood
Astronomers led by Karl Gebhardt of The University of Texas at Austin have measured the most massive known black hole in our cosmic neighborhood by combining data from a giant telescope in Hawai’i and a smaller telescope in Texas. The […]
October 28, 2010
Texas Astronomer Wins Japanese Physics Prize
Astronomer Eiichiro Komatsu of The University of Texas at Austin has been awarded the 25th annual Nishinomiya-Yukawa Memorial Prize for physics. Komatsu, director of the Texas Cosmology Center at the university, is being honored for his studies of the early […]
October 21, 2010
University of Texas Students, Telescopes Help Discover Planets Around Elderly Binary Star
An international consortium of astronomers, including undergraduate and graduate students at The University of Texas at Austin, have discovered a planetary system consisting of at least two massive Jupiter-like planets orbiting the extremely close binary star system NN Serpentis. The […]
October 20, 2010
Multi-University Project to Study ‘Dark Energy’ Receives $8 Million from National Science Foundation
A project to discover the nature of dark energy, a mysterious force causing the expansion of the universe to speed up, has received an $8 million grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF). The funds will be split among The […]
September 13, 2010
Tom Barnes Celebrates Six Months as Superintendent of McDonald Observatory
As Tom Barnes celebrates six months as Superintendent of The University of Texas at Austin McDonald Observatory in September, he lays out several goals for the Observatory. Barnes, an astronomer who specializes in studying variable stars, took over permanent management […]
September 2, 2010
New Hubble Observations of Supernova 1987a Reveal Composition of ‘Star Guts’ Pouring Out
Observations made with NASA’s newly refurbished Hubble Space Telescope of a nearby supernova are allowing astronomers to measure the velocity and composition of “star guts” being ejected into space following the explosion, according to a new study led by the […]
July 16, 2010
McDonald Observatory Dedicates Wheelchair-Accessible Telescope for Visitors
The University of Texas at Austin McDonald Observatory is dedicating a unique telescope tomorrow at its Frank N. Bash Visitors Center. The Wren-Marcario Accessible Telescope, or WMAT, is designed to be 100 percent wheelchair accessible for mobility-impaired visitors to the […]
June 21, 2010
McDonald Observatory Launches Dark Skies Initiative with Video, Radio Programs
The University of Texas at Austin McDonald Observatory is kicking off a campaign to promote awareness of the causes, effects, and solutions to light pollution — stray light shone into the sky where it’s wasted, rather than down on the […]
June 14, 2010
McDonald Astronomers Help Confirm CoRoT Satellite’s New Crop of Extrasolar Planets
Today, France’s space agency, the Centre National d’Études Spatiales (CNES), announced that its CoRoT satellite has found seven new extrasolar planets. A significant component of the ground-based confirmation and follow-up research for four of these (CoRoT-11b, 12b, 14b, and 15b) […]
April 2, 2010
Recent Texas PhD Receives Trumpler Award from Astronomical Society of the Pacific
The Astronomical Society of the Pacific (ASP) announced today that it is presenting the 2010 Robert J. Trumpler Award to Robert Quimby. The Society presents this award each year to a recent recipient of the PhD degree in North America […]
March 25, 2010
Universo Radio Program Celebrates 15 Years
The science radio program Universo will celebrate its 15th anniversary of daily Spanish-language broadcasts on skywatching and astronomy on April 1. The program includes a special focus on the contributions of Latino scientists and the skylore of Mesoamerican cultures. Produced by The […]
February 18, 2010
Mary Kay Hemenway Awarded Education Prize by American Astronomical Society
Dr. Mary Kay Hemenway has been awarded the 2009 AAS Education Prize by the American Astronomical Society (AAS), the major organization of professional astronomers in North America. Hemenway is a Senior Lecturer and Research Associate at The University of Texas […]