Posts by McDonald Observatory
June 2, 2004
Astronomers Probe the Environment of Exploding Stars with HET, Computer Models
DENVER, Colo.— University of Texas at Austin astronomer Chris Gerardy and a host of colleagues are reporting today that they have probed the structure of the environment surrounding type Ia supernovae, exploding stars scientists use as “standard candles” to study […]
May 14, 2004
Students Go Live Online with McDonald Observatory to Search for Planets
Event: Students at Austin’s Lanier High School will be linked live over the internet to astronomers at McDonald Observatory in West Texas, helping in the search for planets around stars other than the Sun. When: 7:00 p.m., May 14 (weather permitting; bad […]
April 19, 2004
McDonald Observatory Co-Sponsors Lecture on ‘Scientific Development and the Democratic Process in South Africa’
Event: Dr. Khotso Mokhele, President and Chief Executive Officer of the National Research Foundation of South Africa (the equivalent of the National Science Foundation in the U.S.), will deliver a public lecture on “Scientific Development and the Democratic Process in South […]
April 19, 2004
McDonald Observatory Astronomer to Lead Study of ‘Vision Mission’ Space Observatory for NASA
AUSTIN, Texas – McDonald Observatory astronomer Dan Lester has received a $325,000 grant from NASA to study a ‘vision mission’ concept for the Single Aperture Far Infrared Observatory. The mission is known as SAFIR (pronounced “sapphire,” like the jewel). This […]
April 16, 2004
Hobby-Eberly Telescope Witnesses Vaporizing of a Cometlike Body by a Very Young Hot Star
FORT DAVIS, Texas – Evidence that a cometlike body with a diameter of at least 100 kilometers fell into a massive, very young star has been obtained by a team of astronomers at Penn State University using the 9.2-meter Hobby-Eberly […]
March 23, 2004
Komatsu Receives Young Astronomer Award from Astronomical Society of Japan Today
Nagoya, JAPAN – Today Eiichiro Komatsu, assistant professor of astronomy at The University of Texas at Austin, will be presented the Young Astronomer Award by the Astronomical Society of Japan (ASJ) at a ceremony at the organization’s annual meeting at […]
March 22, 2004
Peeking at a Puzzling Supernova with Spectropolarimetry
Austin, Texas— By measuring polarized light from an unusual exploding star, an international team of astrophysicists including Peter Hoeflich and J. Craig Wheeler of The University of Texas at Austin has worked out the first detailed picture of a Type […]
March 8, 2004
McDonald Observatory Hosts Special Events in Mid-March
FORT DAVIS, Texas — The University of Texas at Austin McDonald Observatory invites the public to a slew of special events the week of March 13-20, which coincides with spring break for many schools around the state. The events include […]
January 12, 2004
Giant Galaxy String Defies Model of How Universe Evolved
Austin, Texas— Wide-field telescope observations of the remote and therefore early universe, looking back to a time when it was a fifth of its present age, have revealed an enormous string of galaxies about 300 million light-years long. This new […]
January 2, 2004
Duncan Shares Bruno Rossi Prize for Ultra-magnetic Stars
ATLANTA — It all started when two young physicists, between lectures at Princeton University, began to wonder why radio pulsars are so highly magnetized. Little did Robert Duncan and Christopher Thompson suspect, seventeen years ago, that the magnetism of radio […]
December 9, 2003
Astronomers Re-measure the Universe with Hubble Space Telescope
AUSTIN, Texas—University of Texas at Austin astronomers are using Hubble Space Telescope (HST) to improve measurements of vast distances in space, which could greatly increase the accuracy of knowledge in all areas of astronomy from understanding how stars evolve to […]
November 19, 2003
Scientists Develop Cheap Method for Solar System Hunt Using McDonald Observatory Telescope
AUSTIN, Texas—University of Texas at Austin astronomers have invented an inexpensive method to determine if other solar systems like our own exist. Among the more than 100 stars now known to have planets, astronomers have found few systems similar to […]
October 20, 2003
McDonald Observatory Receives Multi-Year Grant to Train Students
Fort Davis, Texas — McDonald Observatory astronomers Dr. Mark Adams and Dr. Matthew Shetrone have received a grant worth about $140,000 from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to involve advanced undergraduate students in innovative astronomical and engineering research projects at […]
October 8, 2003
Einstein’s Biggest Blunder?
Public Lecture Accompanies Symposium Honoring Dr. Frank Bash Austin, Texas — Dr. Alex Filippenko, professor of astronomy at The University of California, Berkeley, will discuss evidence that the universe’s expansion is speeding up, rather than slowing down as expected at […]
September 29, 2003
McDonald Observatory & Partners Receive Federal Appropriation, Will Bring New Research Telescope to Texas
A $3.25 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. The appropriation will also fund major upgrades to the […]
August 13, 2003
Lambert to Lead McDonald Observatory
Austin, Texas—Dr. David Lambert, chair of the Astronomy Department at The University of Texas at Austin, will succeed Dr. Frank Bash as director of McDonald Observatory on Oct. 1, the university has announced. Lambert holds the Isabel McCutcheon Harte Centennial […]