Mcdonald observatory
McDonald Observatory showing Mt. Fowlkes (left) and Mt. Locke (right) as seen from the northwest on Texas State Highway 118.
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| Organization | University of Texas at Austin |
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| Code | 711 |
| Location | Jeff Davis County, United States of America |
| Coordinates | 30°40′17″N 104°01′19″W / 30.6714°N 104.022°WCoordinates: 30°40′17″N 104°01′19″W / 30.6714°N 104.022°W |
| Altitude | 2,070 m (6,790 ft) |
| Established | 1933 |
| Website | mcdonaldobservatory |
| Telescopes | Harlan J. Smith Telescope, Hobby-Eberly Telescope, Otto Struve Telescope |
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The McDonald Observatory is an astronomical observatory located near the unincorporated community of Fort Davis in Jeff Davis County, Texas, United States. The facility is located on Mount Locke in the Davis Mountains of West Texas, with additional facilities on Mount Fowlkes, approximately 1.3 kilometers (0.81 mi) to the northeast. The observatory is part of the University of Texas at Austin. It is an organized research unit of the College of Natural Sciences.
The observatory produces StarDate, a daily syndicated radio program consisting of short segments related to astronomy that airs on both National Public Radio and commercial radio stations — about 400 affiliates in all.
The McDonald Observatory was originally endowed by the Texas banker William Johnson McDonald (1844–1926), who left about $1,000,000 - the bulk of his fortune - to the University of Texas to endow an astronomical observatory. The provision of the will was challenged by McDonald's relatives, but after a long legal fight, the University received about $800,000 from the estate and construction began at Mt. Locke. The then-unnamed Otto Struve Telescope was dedicated on May 5, 1939, and at that time was the second largest telescope in the world. McDonald Observatory was operated under contract by the University of Chicago until the 1960s, when control was transferred to the University of Texas at Austin under the direction of Harlan J. Smith.
Research today at the McDonald Observatory encompasses a wide variety of topics and projects, including planetary systems, stars and stellar spectroscopy, the interstellar medium, extragalactic astronomy, and theoretical astronomy.
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