McDonald Observatory
Coordinates: 30 ° 40 '17.4 " N , 104 ° 1' 21.4" W.
The McDonald Observatory at 2104 meters above sea level on Mount Locke , near the city of Fort Davis in the " Davis Mountains " of Texas , USA . The site is owned by the University of Texas at Austin and is largely funded by the university, and to a lesser extent by renting out observation time at the telescopes. The observatory is equipped with a number of instruments for imaging and spectroscopy of the universe in the visible and infrared, and it also has the first laser moon rangefinder. McDonald works, although administratively separate, with the astronomy department of the University of Texas at Austin.
The research areas at the McDonald Observatory cover many topics and projects, for example planetary systems , star and solar spectroscopy , interstellar space, extragalactic phenomena and theoretical astronomy.
history
The McDonald Observatory is a foundation of the Texas banker William Johnson McDonald (1844-1926), who gave 1.1 million dollars (the majority of his fortune) to the University of Texas to equip an astronomical observatory. This will was challenged in court by the McDonald’s relatives; after a lengthy dispute, construction began. The 2.1 m telescope was inaugurated on May 5, 1939, it was the second largest telescope in the world at the time. Until the 1960s, the observatory was headed by the University of Chicago , then the University of Texas at Austin took over, with the director Harlan J. Smith .
Telescopes
- Hobby Eberly telescope with an aperture of 9.2 m
- Harlan J. Smith telescope with an aperture of 2.7 m
- Otto Struve telescope with an aperture of 2.1 m
- 0.8 m telescope
In addition
- A 0.9 m telescope, formerly used for research, is now used by visitors.
- One of the two 1.2 m MONET telescopes is located on the site
- one of the four 0.45 m ROTSE telescopes
visit
The visitor center has a café and gift shop and an interactive exhibition. Sun observations and tours to the largest telescopes are also carried out daily. Evening star parties are very popular, with visitors having the option of taking a look at the stars through the large telescopes in addition to the offers mentioned.
