Our thanks for another wonderful Board of Visitors meeting! Over 207 members and guests joined us to experience VIP access to McDonald Observatory, learn about the cutting-edge science taking place there, and to connect with one another. Thanks to clear skies, evening programming - which included a Star Party and two nights of telescope viewings – offered a particularly inspiring exploration of the cosmos.

McDonald Observatory is pleased to announce the appointment of B-G Andersson as its new assistant director for research support. As a part of the Observatory’s management team, the assistant director oversees the allocation of observing time on the telescopes and supports the researchers and programs that qualify for it.

“We have conducted a competitive search for the right person,” said Taft Armandroff, director of McDonald Observatory. “B-G has very strong experience in observatory operations and management that has prepared him well. We are delighted to have him on our team.”

BY EMILY HOWARD

Astronomers have recently found hundreds of “polluted” white dwarf stars in our home galaxy, the Milky Way. These are white dwarfs caught actively consuming planets in their orbit. They are a valuable resource for studying the interiors of these distant, demolished planets. They are also difficult to find.

An international team of astronomers using NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope has directly imaged an exoplanet roughly 12 light-years from Earth. The planet, Epsilon Indi Ab, is one of the coldest exoplanets observed to date.

The Cygnus Loop is the ethereal wreckage of a supernova explosion that occurred some 17,000-25,000 years ago. It is a cloud of dust and gas, called a nebula, steadily expanding outward from the original blast site. Because it is relatively close to us – and beautiful! - it is a popular target for amateur astronomers exploring the cosmos through backyard telescopes. Its neighborly status also makes it a popular target for professional astronomers studying the aftereffects of supernovae.

McDonald Observatory is honored to announce a generous gift of $4 million from the Harry W. Bass Jr. Foundation. Funds will support updates to McDonald Observatory’s Frank N. Bash Visitors Center and improve and expand the Observatory’s visitor experience. 

The University of Texas at Austin joined Giant Magellan Telescope and IDOM today in announcing that the telescope’s enclosure, set to be one of the world’s largest astronomical facilities, passed its final design review and is now ready for construction in Chile.

Researchers analyzing data from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope have pinpointed three galaxies that may be actively forming when the universe was only 400 to 600 million years old. Webb’s data show these galaxies are surrounded by gas that the researchers suspect to be almost purely hydrogen and helium, the earliest elements to exist in the cosmos. 

These findings are published in the May 24 issue of the journal Science.

The 2024 Board of Visitors Winter Meeting took place February 23-24 at The University of Texas at Austin. Over 150 Board of Visitors members attended.

Through a series of talks, the event explored some of the ways artificial intelligence (AI) is making an impact within UT’s Astronomy Department and McDonald Observatory, and how it may shape the future of scientific research.

On Monday, April 8, a total solar eclipse swept across North America, from Mexico to Canada. Along the way, it traveled through the Lone Star State, giving Texans a second opportunity to see a solar eclipse within one year – an annular “ring of fire” eclipse was visible on October 14, 2023.