McDonald Observatory
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The McDonald Observatory is located in the Davis Mountains, 450 miles west of Austin, Texas (USA). The observatory is equipped with a wide range of instrumentation for imaging and spectroscopy in the optical and infrared and operates one of the first lunar ranging stations. McDonald works closely with although is administratively separate from the astronomy department of the University of Texas at Austin.
The Otto Struve Telescope and the Harlan J. Smith Telescope are located on Mount Locke at an altitude of 6,791 ft/2,070 m. The Hobby-Eberly Telescope, dedicated in late 1997, is located on the summit of Mount Fowlkes at 6,659 ft/2,030 m above sea level. The high and dry peaks of the Davis Mountains make for some of the darkest and clearest night skies in the region and provide excellent conditions for viewing the heavens.
Currently, the observatory operates four research telescopes at its West Texas site:
- 9.2 m Hobby-Eberly Telescope
- 2.7 m Harlan J. Smith Telescope
- 2.1 m Otto Struve Telescope
- and an 0.8 m telescope
A 0.9 m telescope, formerly used for research, is now used for visitor programs. A visitors' center provides exhibits, tours of the observatory, star parties and other educational programs.
The observatory also hosts one of the four globally networked Robotic Optical Transient Search Experiment (ROTSE) telescopes, and is a Monitoring Network of Telescopes (MONET) site.
[edit] History
The McDonald Observatory was originally endowed by the Texas banker William Johnson McDonald (1844–1926), who left $800,000 (the bulk of his fortune) to the University of Texas to endow an astronomical observatory. The provision of the will was challenged by McDonald's relatives, and after a long legal fight, the observatory was opened. McDonald Observatory was operated under contract by the University of Chicago until the 1960's when control was transferred to the University of Texas at Austin under the direction of Harlan James Smith.
One of the telescopes at McDonald Observatory was shot at by a janitor who was convinced that astronomers were using the telescope to talk to God and wanted to stop this. The mirror being made of tempered glass was not damaged by this.
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