It’s a star party!

Orion Nebula which Dinah and I got to view through 22 inch telescope. (Photo stolen off the Interweb)

On our second evening in Marfa, we headed up to McDonald observatory, about 45 minutes out of town. McDonald Observatory is operated by University of Texas and offers regular public ‘star parties’. Some friends had suggested we go and we didn’t really research what we were getting into and sorta expected maybe 30-40 people in a parking lot with a few amateur telescopes or something.

Instead, we stumbled into a crazy busy scene of about 400-500 people in an amphitheater being given lessons on astronomy. Sure, the speaker was fun but the coolest part may have been the laser pointer he used that shone high up into the sky and allowed him to point out individual stars in different constellations. Everyone wanted to play with that.

Radio telescope that would mysteriously and rapidly turn this way or that every minute or so.

After the lecture, we were all given the opportunity to view Jupiter, Orion Nebula, star clusters, and the M-81 galaxy through cool telescopes with smart guides who would help you understand what you were looking at.  All in all, a great experience, not just for the viewing, but to see so many people driving long distances for … science. Somehow, gives me hope.

McDonald Observatory visitors center. Photo by Dinah Coops