2023-9-14 McDonald Observatory

 Thursday most of us signed up for a tour at McDonald Observatory.

There are at least 3 huge telescopes here. Astronomers from all over the world submit projects for approval to get time on the telescopes.

There is a sun dial clock in front of the main building.

You can see the telescope buildings at the top of the of the mountain.

It's quite a scenic drive up during the day.

The main building has a video and many displays to see.

I love this poster. These days some RVers think they have to light up their area with enough lights to look like a bar making it impossible for others to see the night sky.

W.J. McDonald left enough money to the University of Texas to build the observatory. At the time, the University did not have an astronomy department so they partnered with the University of Chicago to get things started. Now they have a big astronomy department at the University in Austin.

All of the Big Bend area supports dark skies.

The actual property for the observatories was donate by Mrs Violet Locke McIver and Judge Edwin Fowlkes.

It took five years just to build the telescope and then it had to be mounted in the observatory building.

Before we went into the observatory, we got to look at the surrounding area. The view was amazing.

This is the housing for one of the other telescopes.

Behind us you can see some building which comprise a community where the astronomers and their families live.

Everyone is looking up at the telescope which is about four flights up inside the observatory building. Fortunately there is an elevator.

This is the telescope. You don't actually look into the telescope directly. It is projected onto computer screens in another room. We didn't actually get to see that.

We did get to see them moving the telescope and close the opening on the roof.

It was interesting to learn all about it.

Next we went to see the Hobby-Eberly telescope. It looked quite a bit different._

It was very different.

One last shot before we head out.

Elaine and I decided to do the Scenic Loop as long as we were part way around it. Unfortunately we didn't have the map with us so we had to fly by the seat of our pants. We started at #8 which is the observatory. We went northwest for so long that I was afraid we were going to end up at I-10. By the time we got around to where Brooks Mtn was located, we were getting a bit worried not realizing how long the drive was. Fortunately we saw a man camped where the picnic table is located across from Brooks Mtn and he was able to tell us the road would turn back east in about 5 miles. Whoo! It was a beautiful drive.