Posts by McDonald Observatory
March 9, 2023
First Images from JWST’s Largest General Observer Program
The first images from the largest program in the James Webb Space Telescope’s first year show many types of galaxies, including dazzling examples of spiral galaxies, gravitational lensing and evidence of galaxy mergers. Scientists from the COSMOS-Web program released mosaic […]
February 9, 2023
Hobby-Eberly Telescope Reveals Galaxy Gold Mine in First Large Survey
Astronomers have barely scratched the surface of mapping the nearly endless stars and galaxies of the heavens. Using supercomputers and the help of thousands of citizen scientists around the world, researchers with The University of Texas at Austin have now revealed […]
January 7, 2023
Cosmic Dawn III Recreates the Early Universe Epoch of Reionization in Unprecedented Detail
The Cosmic Dawn (“CoDa”) Project, an international team of astrophysicists, recently reached a new milestone – CoDa III – the first trillion-element simulation of how the universe evolved in its first billion years. This is when galaxies formed and flooded […]
January 5, 2023
James Webb Telescope Reveals Milky Way-like Galaxies in Young Universe
New images from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) reveal for the first time galaxies with stellar bars — elongated features of stars stretching from the centers of galaxies into their outer disks — at a time when the universe […]
December 1, 2022
Amateur Scientists Have Helped Astronomers Identify Nearly a Quarter-Million Galaxies
Astronomers on a historically ambitious and massive galaxy-mapping mission have activated more than 10,000 amateur scientists in 85 countries to help in their quest. Now they hope to significantly scale up their volunteer force for a unique project that could […]
October 10, 2022
Hobby-Eberly Telescope reaches 25th anniversary milestone
The Hobby-Eberly telescope (HET) at The University of Texas at Austin’s McDonald Observatory has reached a milestone — 25 years of service. One of the world’s largest optical telescopes, the HET captures light from stars and distant galaxies to help astronomers solve […]
August 8, 2022
Stars Shed Light on Why Stellar Populations Are So Similar in Milky Way
Scientists have uncovered what sets the masses of stars, a mystery that has captivated astrophysicists for decades. Their answer? Stars, themselves. Using highly detailed simulations, a collaborative team led by researchers from the University of Texas at Austin has made a […]
August 4, 2022
Wide View of Early Universe Hints at Galaxy Among the Earliest Ever Detected
Two new images from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope show what may be among the earliest galaxies ever observed. Both images include objects from more than 13 billion years ago, and one offers a much wider field of view than Webb’s […]
August 2, 2022
Investment from UT Austin, Other Partners Accelerates Construction of Giant Magellan Telescope
The Giant Magellan Telescope (GMT) is a next-generation optical/infrared telescope being developed in northern Chile that will yield important discoveries on topics such as galaxies in the early universe and Earth-sized planets orbiting nearby stars. The University of Texas at […]
July 20, 2022
McDonald Observatory Works with Catalyst Midstream Partners to Protect Dark Skies
West Texas and the Big Bend region are known for their starry night skies, made possible in part due to ongoing efforts to preserve them. Recently, McDonald Observatory and the non-profit organization Texan by Nature recognized the efforts of Catalyst […]
April 27, 2022
Supernova Reveals Secrets to Texas-led Team of Astronomers
An international group of astronomers led by Benjamin Thomas of The University of Texas at Austin has used observations from the Hobby-Eberly Telescope (HET) at the university’s McDonald Observatory to unlock a puzzling mystery about a stellar explosion discovered several […]
April 18, 2022
McDonald Observatory Holds Dark Skies Festival April 29-30
The University of Texas at Austin’s McDonald Observatory will hold its first Dark Skies Festival Friday, April 29, and Saturday, April 30. The festival will include daytime and evening events for the whole family, plus the debut of the new […]
April 7, 2022
McDonald Observatory, Partners Create World’s Largest International Dark Sky Reserve
The University of Texas at Austin’s McDonald Observatory, The Nature Conservancy – Davis Mountain Preserve, and the International Dark-Sky Association (IDA) are pleased to announce the certification of the Greater Big Bend International Dark Sky Reserve. The designation, granted by […]
March 30, 2022
Two NASA Post-Doctoral Fellows Coming to UT Austin
NASA has selected 24 new Fellows for its prestigious NASA Hubble Fellowship Program (NHFP), two of whom are heading to The University of Texas at Austin. The program enables outstanding postdoctoral scientists to pursue independent research in any area of […]
March 16, 2022
Astronomer Stella Offner Receives Delta Young Astronomer Lectureship Award
Astronomer Stella Offner of The University of Texas at Austin has been awarded the NCU-Delta Young Astronomer Lectureship Award by Taiwan’s National Central University and the Delta Electronics Foundation. Each year, the award is given to one or two international […]
March 8, 2022
Giant Magellan Telescope Awards IDOM Final Design of its Telescope Enclosure
The partners of the Giant Magellan Telescope (GMT) today announced they have awarded IDOM, a renowned engineering and architecture firm based in Spain, a contract to complete the telescope enclosure design by 2024. The award follows an extensive enclosure designer […]