McDonald Obsevatory Video (Not my video)

This is a scheduled blog post... as this posts we are driving back to San Antonio after spending a week in the Davis Mountain area and volunteering at the McDonald Observatory.

This isn't my video... but it will give you an idea of what we saw.

McDonald Observatory - Outreach and Research

Friday:

We started off the day with going to Balmorhea State Park and when snorkeling in the natural spring pool. It was really fun we saw many different types of fish and a turtle. Later we drove back to Alpine to take a nap.
At around 8:30pm we set up our 16” Dobsonian at the visitor’s center at McDonald Observatory. I kept the my scope on the Ring Nebula all during the public star party. Tina ran an old orange tube C8 SCT and she kept on Saturn most of the time and eventually switched to Jupiter. Tina and I were each paired with a UT research student. There was around 400 people in attendance. At around 11:30 PM the star party was over and Tina’s partner, Jose, was talking about going to the 36” Telescope to do some observations on Jupiter. He did some calling around the mountain and found out that wasn’t going to be possible. Then my partner, Greg, was telling us about his research project a pulsating white dwarf star GD66. Greg is a research assistant using the 82 inch Otto Struve Telescope to collect data on the star.

Since the 36” was unavailable he invited Tina and I to go meet the lead astronomer on the research project and “hang out” at the 82 inch Otto Struve Telescope. We drove up around 11:50 pm and went into the 86” observatory. We walked in the control room and met the researchers and a few people that were there also just hanging out. I met Jimi Lowery, owner of the largest privately owned telescope a 48” reflector. I met many people about 10 and I can’t remember all their names but a few knew people from San Angelo that I knew from when I got started in Astronomy. We literally got to see the raw data collection being done and analyzed. The particle count was up so they were required to shut down observations and so they dome was closed. We were allowed to go into the dome telescope area and walk up the inside service ways to look at the scope. Later that night we walked out the outside catwalk of the observatory. It was really dark outside however you could see some far off light glow from El Paso and Ft. Davis. I asked the astronomers and they did seem very concerned about the encroaching light pollution.

About 1 am after playing around the 86” we got clearance to visit the Hobby-Eberly Telescope (HET) 11.1 x 9.8 meter telescope. We walked right into the control room with the research partners we paired up with. We got a first hand look at the scope. They have to shut down sooner than the other telescopes because the HET doesn’t have a cover for the mirror like the 107” and the 86”. So we were allowed to go right up to the HET inside the dome. (On a tour you see if through a glass window.) They even moved the scope around for us. We spoke about an hour about the telescope and about the research being done that night. They were analyzing and collecting data for exo-planetary search. We left about 2:30am and drove the hour drive back to Alpine with an experience of a life time. We were literally standing on the forefront for Astronomical research.



Other Photos:


My Telescope with 107" and 86" in background:


Visitor Center Observatory with Milkyway:


ISS Pass Over Visitor Center at McDonald Observatory


Iridium Flare over Hobby-Eberly Telescope. Jupiter in Tree.


Line at telescope:


All Photos Copyright 2009 -MPR Photography www.photompr.com
All rights reserved.

Report Form West Texas

Update for Out West.

Tuesday:
Tina and went to the Alpine Visitors Center and Big Bend Museum at Sul Ross. Later that day we decided to drive out East to Marathon, Texas to see what was here…. Not much. Later in the day we drove started heading to the Marfa Lights Viewing area with the goal of setting up out 16” Dobsonian Telescope. But as we drove out there we could see that the storm cells north of Alpine were moving into the area. We snapped a few photos around the visitor center then our focus went Photographing the Lightning. It was clear that we weren’t going to be able to set up the telescope but we enjoyed capturing the storm with our camera. Later we moved our equipment to photograph the “Marfa Lights” I was able to take some long exposures about 10 minutes f/2.8 with a 200mm lens at ISO 12,800. I also took some 30 second exposures and later I will stack them in software to total a 30 minute exposure. More on the photographic findings later.

Wednesday:
Today we got up and headed out to the McDonald Observatory and took the tour. It was really educational. I was allowed to control the 107 inch Harlan J. Smith Telescope. Others in our group moved the dome and opened the shutter. I was amazed at how hands on the tour was. We were able to get up close and personal with the telescope. After looking around the huge scope I noted that there was a telrad base mounted to one of the smaller scopes mounted on the side of the 107“. We then Moved to Hobby-Eberly Telescope (HET) a 403 inch segmented mirror telescope. This was really great to see. Last time I was at McDonald the HET was under construction. Today we were there while they were cleaning the Mirrors on the HET so we got to see them move the telescope. The design of the HET is really amazing, it moves on an air bladder and it is fixed at an angle of 50 degrees. We got to see the cleaning crew move the telescope around which is something our tour guide said he had only seen once before. While looking at the telescope I noticed a smaller Meade LX200 (12”-ish) mounted on the base of the HET… and guess what.. It had a tel-rad. I was really amazed that these huge massive scopes still find use for a tel-rad something that I use on my telescopes.
After to tour we went back to the visitors center and got the receptionist to call Frank Cianciolo, the director of the visitor’s center. I’ve been talking with him over the past week about setting up and observing. We talked with Frank about a hour about astronomy and he knew a lot of my old astronomy buddies from San Angelo, so we caught up on some old stories and old friend. Mr. Cianciolo showed us were we could set up our telescope for the Friday and Saturday Star Party (Today is just too cloudy and rainy). He gave us a personal tour of the visitor center’s telescopes and he showed Tina the telescope she’d most likely be running. If the weather is nice Tina will run the observatory 1 telescope a 16” Meade LX200. She will have to work out the dome control but it should be good. I’ll have our 16” Telescope set up outside. We are all set up and we are hopeful the weather will be good.

Also today we noticed many private observatories between Ft. Davis and McDonald. We even saw the roll off roof observatory that houses Jimi Lowery's 48 inch reflector the largest Privately owned Telescope. I've been in e-mail contact with Mr. Lowery and we might be able to visit with him also on this trip.

Video about McDonald Obsevatory

This is a video I found on the place Tina and I visiting this week:

On the road again...

So this morning we are making our way across Texas from San Antonio to Alpine, TX. We have our Honda element Locked and Loaded and as this posts we are rocketing down I-10 with our 16" Meade Lightbridge in tow. Hopefully the weather will be nice and we'll get some observing in. I don't know if the hotel we are staying at has internet... but I'll try to find a hot spot so we can update.

The plan:
We'll there isn't really one..other than setting up our telescope for private observing Wednesday night at McDonald Observatory and then we are helping out with 2 star party outreach events also and McDonald Observatory.

Davis Mountains here we come.

Next week my wife and I are going out to the Davis Mountain area of Southwest Texas (the same place the Texas Star Party is held) for our 4th Wedding Anniversary. We are are planning on viewing the Marfa Lights and taking in the sights of Marfa, Alpine and Ft. Davis. Thank to Bryan T. the chairman of the San Antonio Astronomical Association got in contact with the head of the McDonald Observatory Visitor center and we have been granted permission to do some private observing with our 16" Lightbridge. We are also volunteering to do 2 outreach events at the visitor center.

If our hotel has internet I'll try to update next week.