McDonald Observatory

August 17, 2010 by Tinka.

A trip to the Davis Mountains  would not be complete without a trip to the McDonald Observatory.  Here is one of the many telescopes.

A little closer view.

We took a tour of the facility which included an interesting presentation about the solar system.  Keeping track of solar flares is one of their prime tasks.   We’ve been on a lot of tours over the past few years and found no guide that knew more about the subject than our guide at the observatory.  With her degree in broadcasting and a masters in astronomy, we were quite impressed with both the knowledge and presentation.

At the entrance to the visitor’s center was a good sized sun dial.

A view of the valley and the road to the Observatory.

Here’s another one of the telescopes. (How’s that for blue sky?)  We were allowed to climb into this one.

The entire ball shaped structure rotates to find the intended target in the sky.  Guess who got the opportunity to operate it?

Thank goodness that we didn’t need our liability insurance.

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