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Ft. Davis Stargazing

By Ginger Wentrcek

In July, 2019, my friend and I made our long awaited trip to Ft. Davis to look through the 82" Otto Struve telescope, take the daytime tour of the HET and Harlan J. Smith observatories, and attend a star party. We had tickets last year for the 107" but had to cancel our trip because of rain.

The Weather

The weather was still an issue this year. There were scattered showers in the area and lightening was visible in the distance. However, it was determined that the lightening was far enough away to open the dome. As for the area showers, the dome was opened between the showers and the night show was just perfect. A huge bank of never ending clouds brought the show to a close around 1 a.m. The astronomers who operated the telescope for the special viewing night worked hard to make sure we saw as many objects as possible.

Click the image to the right to see the list of objects we saw and the telescope settings and notes. We did not see Saturn but several extra targets were added to the list. It was a fantastic night to see the stars.

Viewing Targets
Click the image to see a larger image.

Something New is Coming

A 12-meter radio telescope dish, left, is part of a new, NASA-funded Geodetic Observatory under construction at McDonald Observatory. The facility is being built to aid in the study of earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, sea level changes and landslides on Earth and will join a network of approximately 30 other stations globally.

Otto Struve Observatory

Telescope Park and Visitor's Center - Notice radio telescope dish in bottom right portion of photo

View of Ft. Davis area from Harlan J. Smith Observatory

The beautiful Milky Way with Harlan J. Smith and Otto Struve observatories in background