McDonald Observatory

McDonald Observatory astronomical observatory located on Mt. Locke, near Fort Davis, Tex.; founded in 1932, sponsored by the Univ. of Texas in cooperation with the Univ. of Chicago. Its equipment includes 107-in. (272-cm), 82-in. (208-cm), 32-in. (81-cm), and 30-in. (76-cm) reflecting telescopes. The 107-in. reflector, which began operation in 1968 as the third largest telescope in the world, was built under contract with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. It was primarily used for the study of bodies within the solar system, particularly the planets, satellites, and asteroids, to gather information for possible use in future space exploration. Principal programs include research on interstellar molecules as well as the spectroscopic and photometric analysis of stellar, interstellar, and extragalactic matter. The observatory produces the "Star Date" radio program, providing a daily report of astronomical news and sky events across North America.

McDonald Observatory The observatory of the University of Texas, on the adjacent peaks of Mount Locke (altitude 2070 m) and Mount Fowlkes (altitude 1980 m), near Fort Davis in western Texas. It was founded in 1932 and is named after William Johnson McDonald (1844–1926), a banker who gave money for its construction. Its largest instruments are the 9.2-m Hobby–Eberly Telescope on Mount Fowlkes; the 2.72-m Harlan J. Smith reflector opened in 1968 on Mount Locke; the 2.1-m Otto Struve reflector, opened in 1939 on Mount Locke; and a 0.76-m opened in 1970 on Mount Locke. It is also the site of the 1.2‐m MONET/North robotic telescope owned by the University of Göttingen, Germany, opened in 2006 on Mount Locke. http://www.as.utexas.edu/mcdonald/mcdonald.html