Star Party at the McDonald Observatory

We spent this evening at the McDonald Observatory in the Davis Mountains. At somewhere around 8000 ft., it gets a little chilly when the sun goes down. We are sitting here waiting to hear the presentation portion of the Star Party.

We got to view some objects through the telescopes at the observatory. We saw M57, M11 and Jupiter with three of its moons.


M57, which is the gaseous remnants of a sun much like our own was interesting.








M11, which is a star cluster was quite clear.












An amazing feat since it is 6000 light years from earth. Jupiter was cool because of the bands (2 black bands) but the three viewable moons was more impressive to me. I also learned that the great red eye or storm is starting to run itself out. But not to worry: a new storm on the planet is taking its place.



What I did not know was that our atmosphere does not allow one to view objects like Jupiter in color. The view through was all in black and white.

One of the most interesting events was the arrival of a meteor during the Star Party. The night suddenly lit up as though it was early evening. We all looked at the direction of the light and saw a meteor in its last stages of burning up. While I have seen a number of meteors in the sky, this is the first time I have seen a meteor at the end of its life less than 100 feet off the ground. The meteor sounded something like a very fast car approaching. The staff of the observatory told us the these types of encounters are fairly common and that the larger meteors sound like a freight train approaching.

All in all, it was a good night and a good visit to the observatory. I think the boys enjoyed it. Jason seemed mesmerized by the size of the universe. Jon-Jon seemed overwhelmed with everything. Josh liked the hot chocolate. Karen was thrilled to look at Jupiter. The whole reminded of when and why I used to dable in astronomy when I was younger. It is a fascinating discipline.

I would recommend a visit to the McDonald observatory if you are ever in the Fort Davis area. The observatory is quite impressive and the staff do a wonderful job.