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.

Using new observations from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), astronomers have discovered methane emission on a brown dwarf, an unexpected finding for such a cold and isolated world. Published today in the journal Nature, the findings suggest that this brown dwarf might generate aurorae similar to those seen on our own planet as well as on Jupiter and Saturn.

The highly competitive NASA Hubble Fellowship Program (NHFP) recently named 24 new fellows to its 2024 roster.

A team of astronomers, including Danielle Berg and John Chisholm at The University of Texas at Austin, has used NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope to survey the starburst galaxy Messier 82 (M82).

The Heising-Simons Foundation has awarded Quang Tran, Ph.D. candidate in The University of Texas at Austin’s Department of Astronomy, one of its eight prestigious 51 Pegasi b Fellowships this year.