Posts by McDonald Observatory
May 3, 2005
McDonald Observatory, Terlingua Preservation Foundation Unite to Preserve Dark West Texas Skies
WHO: The Terlingua Preservation Foundation in cooperation with The University of Texas at Austin McDonald Observatory in Fort Davis WHAT: An entertaining and educational program on outdoor lighting control presented by Bill Wren, M.Ed., retired public affairs employee of McDonald Observatory. The […]
March 1, 2005
Universo radio program celebrates 10 years, brings astronomy & skylore to Spanish-speaking audience
Austin, Texas — On April 1, The University of Texas McDonald Observatory will celebrate 10 years of producing Universo, its daily two-minute, Spanish-language radio program about astronomy. Universo is heard on about 180 U.S. radio stations (including stations in the […]
February 24, 2005
Texas astronomer J. Craig Wheeler elected President of American Astronomical Society
Austin, Texas — The 6,500 scientist members of the American Astronomical Society have elected University of Texas astronomer J. Craig Wheeler as their next president. Wheeler is the Samuel T. and Fern Yanagisawa Regents Professor of Astronomy at UT-Austin. Established […]
February 18, 2005
Magnetar flare blitzed Earth Dec. 27, could solve cosmic mysteries
This information is co-released with The University of California, Berkeley, and co-incides with a NASA Space Science Update (right). Austin, Texas — Astronomers around the world recorded late last year a powerful explosion of high-energy X-rays and gamma rays […]
January 10, 2005
McDonald Observatory Plans Outdoor ‘Parallax Park’
FORT DAVIS, Texas — How far away are the stars? How do astronomers find planets around other stars? How do space telescopes contribute to our understanding of the universe? McDonald Observatory is planning a large outdoor exhibit that will allow […]
January 7, 2005
New Site, HET Managers at McDonald Observatory
FORT DAVIS, Texas — Two new managers are taking over the site of The University of Texas at Austin’s McDonald Observatory. K. Russell Peterman is the Observatory’s superintendent, and Robert Calder is site manager of the 9.2-meter Hobby-Eberly Telescope (HET), […]
January 4, 2005
Texas Astronomers find Mystery Object in ‘Starless Core’ with Spitzer Space Telescope
Austin, Texas — University of Texas at Austin astronomers using NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope looked into a supposedly empty cloud of dust and discovered that it’s not empty after all. Professor Neal Evans leads Spitzer’s “Cores to Disks” Legacy Science […]
October 13, 2004
High School Students Spend Night In Computer Lab, Help McDonald Observatory Search For Planets
EVENT: Austin and Round Rock students attending an overnight lock-in at Austin’s Lanier High School will be linked live over the Internet and videoconferencing to astronomers at The University of Texas at Austin’s McDonald Observatory in West Texas, helping in the […]
September 27, 2004
McDonald Observatory and Partners Receive Federal Appropriation, Move Forward Plans to Develop New Astronomy Facility
AUSTIN — A $2.8 million federal appropriation to The University of Texas at Austin McDonald Observatory, The University of New Mexico, and the Air Force will bring a new research telescope to McDonald and fund major upgrades to the Hobby-Eberly […]
September 20, 2004
StarDate Teams with Humanities Texas, Brings Native Skies to Nation’s Airwaves
StarDate Radio has partnered with Humanities Texas, the state partner of the National Endowment for the Humanities, to bring programs on the astronomy of native Texas cultures to the nation’s airwaves. Beginning today and continuing through September 23, StarDate’s approximately […]
August 31, 2004
McDonald Observatory Astronomers Discover Neptune-Sized Planet with Hobby-Eberly Telescope
Austin, Texas —A team of astronomers led by Barbara McArthur, and including Michael Endl, William Cochran and Fritz Benedict, of The University of Texas at Austin’s McDonald Observatory has used the Hobby-Eberly Telescope (HET) and its High Resolution Spectrograph to […]
August 3, 2004
Mitchell Gift to Texas A&M, Support from The University of Texas at Austin Allow Flagship Universities to Join Telescope Consortium
Austin, Texas—Texas A&M University and The University of Texas at Austin are joining the Giant Magellan Telescope (GMT) Consortium to explore the frontiers of our univers e as the result of a $1.25 million gift to Texas A&M from George […]
July 9, 2004
Texas Astronomers Find & Confirm Extrasolar Planet in Record Time with Hobby-Eberly Telescope
AUSTIN — McDonald Observatory astronomers Bill Cochran, Michael Endl, and Barbara McArthur have exploited the Hobby-Eberly Telescope’s (HET’s) capabilities to rapidly find and confirm, with great precision, the giant telescope’s first planet outside our solar system. The event serves as […]
June 21, 2004
Texas Astronomer Wins ASP’s Muhlmann Award for Infrared Instruments
AUSTIN — Astronomer John Lacy of The University of Texas at Austin has been given the 2004 Maria and Eric Muhlmann Award by the Astronomical Society of the Pacific. The award is given for “recent scientific observational results made possible […]
June 17, 2004
‘Blazar’ Illuminates Era When Stars & Galaxies Formed
STANFORD, Calif. —In an article posted June 10 to the Astrophysical Journal Letters website, astrophysicists at Stanford report spotting a black hole so massive that it’s more than 10 billion times the mass of our sun. More importantly, this heavyweight is so […]
June 16, 2004
Stellar Symposium Honors David Lambert’s Birthday
AUSTIN — About 100 astronomers will gather at Austin’s Hyatt Regency Hotel on Town Lake tomorrow through Saturday for a scientific symposium on the elements on the surface of stars. Called “Cosmic Abundances as Records of Stellar Evolution and Nucleosynthesis,” […]