News Releases

2023

30 November 2023

Discovery of Planet Too Big for Its Sun Throws Off Models of Solar System Formation

20 November 2023

Geminid Meteor Shower Peaks Night of December 13/14

15 November 2023

Teacher Workshops at McDonald Observatory

25 October 2023

McDonald Observatory Celebrates October Solar Eclipse

24 October 2023

Permian Basin Area Foundation Supports McDonald Observatory Exhibit Renovations

26 September 2023

The Giant Magellan Telescope’s Final Mirror Fabrication Begins

11 September 2023

Department of Energy Awards Wootton Center Grant for Research and Education

30 August 2023

Observatory Celebrates Board of Visitors at Summer Meeting

29 August 2023

McDonald Observatory Invites Ecological Research as a Texas Field Station

15 August 2023

West Texas Businesses Preserve Night Sky – One Light Bulb at a Time

14 August 2023

Astronomers Confirm Maisie’s Galaxy is Among Earliest Ever Observed

03 August 2023

Mapping Everything Everywhere All At Once

19 July 2023

JWST Awards 148 Hours Observing Time to University of Texas Astronomer

13 July 2023

Chemical Cartography Reveals the Milky Way’s Spiral Arms

06 July 2023

Webb Telescope Detects Most Distant Active Supermassive Black Hole

22 June 2023

New Era of Exoplanet Discovery Begins with Images of ‘Jupiter’s Younger Sibling’

19 June 2023

Searching for an Atmosphere on the Rocky Exoplanet TRAPPIST-1 c

07 June 2023

Astronomers Observe Giant Tails of Helium Escaping Jupiter-Like Planet

25 May 2023

McDonald Observatory Dedicates David G. Booth Director’s House

23 May 2023

Searching for Supernovae in HETDEX Data

17 April 2023

Two eclipses across Texas bring science exploration to our backyard

13 April 2023

James Webb Space Telescope Images Challenge Theories of How Universe Evolved

07 April 2023

JWST First Stunning Image of Cassiopeia A, Fragments of a Hellish Explosion

06 April 2023

McDonald Observatory Celebrates One-Year Anniversary of Greater Big Bend International Dark Sky Reserve

09 March 2023

First Images from JWST’s Largest General Observer Program

09 February 2023

Hobby-Eberly Telescope Reveals Galaxy Gold Mine in First Large Survey

02 February 2023

Texas Science Festival Will Inspire Texans Through Scientific Discovery

07 January 2023

Cosmic Dawn III Recreates the Early Universe Epoch of Reionization in Unprecedented Detail

05 January 2023

JWST Reveals Milky Way-like Galaxies in Young Universe

2022

01 December 2022

Amateur Scientists Have Helped Astronomers Identify Nearly a Quarter-Million Galaxies

10 October 2022

Hobby-Eberly Telescope reaches 25th anniversary milestone

08 August 2022

Stars Shed Light on Why Stellar Populations Are So Similar in Milky Way

04 August 2022

Wide View of Early Universe Hints at Galaxy Among the Earliest Ever Detected

02 August 2022

Investment from UT Austin, Other Partners Accelerates Construction of Giant Magellan Telescope

20 July 2022

McDonald Observatory Works with Catalyst Midstream Partners to Protect Dark Skies

27 April 2022

Supernova Reveals Secrets to Texas-led Team of Astronomers

18 April 2022

McDonald Observatory Holds Dark Skies Festival April 29-30

07 April 2022

McDonald Observatory, Partners Create World’s Largest International Dark Sky Reserve

30 March 2022

Two NASA Post-Doctoral Fellows Coming to UT Austin

16 March 2022

Astronomer Stella Offner Receives Delta Young Astronomer Lectureship Award

08 March 2022

Giant Magellan Telescope Awards IDOM Final Design of its Telescope Enclosure

15 February 2022

Brendan Bowler Receives 2022 Sloan Research Fellowship

07 February 2022

Bill Wren, Tireless Promoter of Dark Skies, Retires from McDonald Observatory

2021

17 December 2021

Probing the Secrets of Dead Stars and Planetary Remnants from McDonald Observatory

01 December 2021

Texas Astronomers Discover Strangely Massive Black Hole in Milky Way Satellite Galaxy

08 November 2021

National Academy of Sciences Report Ranks US Extremely Large Telescope Program, Including the Giant Magellan Telescope, as Top Priority for US Astronomy in the 2020s

29 October 2021

MEDIA ADVISORY: McDonald Observatory to Host Dark Skies Festival April 29-30, 2022

19 October 2021

Weizmann Institute of Science Joins University of Texas at Austin, Partners in Giant Magellan Telescope Project

22 September 2021

Uncovering the Mystery of Early Massive Galaxies Running on Empty

14 September 2021

McDonald Observatory, Partners Request Letters of Support for Dark Sky Reserve

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