MacDonald Observatory

We devoted most of today to the McDonald Observatory. The observatory is located in the Davis Mountains but run by the University of Texas at Austin. We took in three programs. We started with solar viewing program and dome tours in the morning. In an auditorium we saw live on-screen views of what one of the telescopes was seeing on the sun. The moderator explained sun spots, promontories, and flares. Then we all moved outside where the moderator enlisted some of the audience to form a human model of planets circling the sun. He used this to give the best explanation of the ecliptic that we've ever seen. Then came tours of two of the satellite domes. We got to see how they open the domes and turn them to enable the telescopes to be pointed to the desired part of the sky. The second program started off the evening by describing and locating for us a number of constellations and significant stars. Immediately after that was the third program--a star party that included viewing Saturn and a number of stars through various small telescopes that had been set up outside the visitor's center.

McDonald Observatory's web site is http://mcdonaldobservatory.org.