While we were in Pecos, TX, there were a couple of other things fairly close by we needed to visit. McDonald Observatory and Fort Davis National Historic Site, a little more than an hour south (86 miles), were both on the agenda. It was overcast, so Sam was happy to accompany us on the ride.
William McDonald left some money to the University of Texas to "build an observatory and promote the study of astronomy." The university did not even have an astronomy program, but they didn't want to let the opportunity pass by, so they collaborated with the University of Chicago to build an observatory.
The Observatory Tour and the Solar Viewing Tour were free due to our ASTC membership.
The fairly new Franklin Bash Visitor's Center was pretty nice and surprisingly crowded. It was spring break and a lot of folks brought their kids in for something a little different.
This was the first observatory that we have visited that clearly catered to little ones. The small museum in the welcome center was geared toward kids and made the science come to life.
I did not notice anyone stop to appreciate the display just outside the front doors. There were full-scale representations of the first telescope mirror - 82 inches in diameter, the 107-inch telescope built in the 1960's and finally the 432-inch diameter, segmented Hobby Eberly telescope. Most people walked across the displays without realizing what they signified.
Our tour group was led by Shannon who had worked at the facility for the last 17 years. He said he was an amateur astronomer and his job was to put the science in terms we could understand. I believe he did an excellent job.
Shannon drove us up the "highest road in Texas," (elevation: 6,971 ft.) to the observatory. What a fantastic view!
Shannon grabbed the control paddle and raised up the platform to start his talk. I was surprised when he actually started slewing the telescope on its axes and rotated the dome. It's pretty impressive when you see really big machinery moving. The yellow box mounted to the telescope was a spectrometer set up for the current user's research.
Back in the Visitor's Center, we sat in on a solar viewing lecture. It was too cloudy for any real-time viewing, but Tom, one of the resident astronomers at the observatory, had plenty of information and a lot of previously recorded video of the sun. He showed us some pretty spectacular filaments and flares and sunspot activity we would not likely have seen otherwise.
We were left on our own to explore the Hobby Eberly telescope. The dome did not seem too impressive considering it housed a 432-inch telescope. Inside, looking at the telescope design and the displays, it was clear this was unlike any other telescope we had visited. It was also the first time I have ever directly seen the mirror on a major telescope.
It's not easy to see the segmented mirror. Look for the edge just above the blue mirror support.
It takes 91 of these hexagonal segments to make up the mirror.
Moving on, we next headed back down the hill to Fort Davis. It was an interesting place that I wish we had more time to fully explore. The ranger said the fort had so many troops it was never attacked. They never bothered to build a wall around the facility. At the time, Indian tribes rarely had more than about 60 members and only a fraction of those were warriors. The fort housed nearly 400 troops!
We only had 30 minutes to explore the compound, but the Rangers were very kind and accommodating.
One of eight enlisted Men's Barracks 1869-1891
The officers quarters were relatively plush.
The skies on the drive home created some fantastic picture opportunities (good thing there was a wide shoulder and not a lot of traffic). Below was my favorite shot along the road.
Spring is here! The cottonwoods are starting to bud out.
Wild Rose Pass had a breathtaking view, even though it was too early in the season for the wild roses to be in bloom.
We managed to outrun the storm (mostly).
It hit us both how dramatically the landscape changed in just 50 miles. From our site in Pecos, the tallest thing in sight was ubiquitous rocking oil pumps.
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