Astronomy

McDonald Observatory

A Cosmic Puzzle: Phosphine Found in One Brown Dwarf, Missing in Others

October 2, 2025 • by Emily Howard

The explosive compound forms naturally in the atmospheres of Jupiter and Saturn, but on Earth it is also a byproduct of anaerobic life.

Illustration of the Wolf 1130ABC triple system, composed of the red dwarf star Wolf 1130A, its close and compact white dwarf companion Wolf 1130B, and the distant brown dwarf tertiary Wolf 1130C. The three components of this system are shown scaled to their relative sizes. Image credit: Adam Burgasser, UCSD.

McDonald Observatory

Local Properties Keep Stars Bright with Night Sky-Friendly Lighting

October 2, 2025 • by Emily Howard

Village Fresh Greenhouse Grown, the Brewster County Courthouse and Terlingua Ranch Lodge are the latest to adopt lighting that benefits astronomers and skywatchers.

A photo of the dark night sky above greenhouses in West Texas.

McDonald Observatory

UT Austin Welcomes MIT to Giant Magellan Telescope International Consortium

September 30, 2025 • by Staff Writer

The private research university becomes the 16th member of the international consortium advancing the GMT.

On the right side, a telescope enclosure sitting on a mountaintop is open to the night sky. Text over the sky reads "Giant Magellan Telescope + Massachusetts Institute of Technology"

McDonald Observatory

Astronomers Investigate Complex Heart of a Cosmic Butterfly

August 28, 2025 • by Emily Howard

The James Webb Space Telescope offers a new view of a planetary nebula located about 3,400 light-years away in the constellation Scorpius.

The complicated structure at the centre of the Butterfly Nebula, NGC 6302. There is a bright source at the centre that is surrounded by greenish nebulosity and several looping lines in cream, orange and pink. One of these lines appears to form a ring oriented vertically and nearly edge-on around the bright source at the centre. Other lines trace out a figure eight shape. Moving outward from these complex lines and green nebulosity, there is a section of red light on either side of the object.

McDonald Observatory

The Universe’s Secret Harvest: UT Astronomers Shed Light on “the Cosmic Grapes”

August 7, 2025 • by Emily Howard

The galaxy contains far more star-forming clumps than current theoretical models can explain.

A lumpy purple galaxy with more than a dozen white clumps representing star forming regions

McDonald Observatory

Some Young Suns Align with Their Planet-forming Disks, Others Are Born Tilted

August 6, 2025 • by Emily Howard

Lauren Biddle, a UT postdoc, finds about one-third of young Sun-like stars are born with misaligned protoplanetary disks.

An illustration demonstrating how a solar system is tilted with respect to the axis of its central star

UT News

Meet the Universe’s Earliest Confirmed Black Hole: A Monster at the Dawn of Time

August 6, 2025 • by Emily Howard

A team of astronomers from UT’s Cosmic Frontier Center have identified the most distant black hole ever confirmed.

An artist's rendition of a black hole includes an exploding cloud around a dot of nothingness, surrounded by stars in outer space.

McDonald Observatory

Stowaway Bat Returns Home Friday, July 25

July 21, 2025 • by Emily Howard

A Big Freetail bat nicknamed Hubble apparently hitched a ride from McDonald Observatory to Austin in astronomy gear.

McDonald Observatory

Giant Magellan Telescope Advances to National Science Foundation Final Design Phase

June 13, 2025 • by Staff Writer

UT Austin is on track for huge leaps forward in astronomy research capabilities as GMT progresses.

A telescope dome under a starry sky at night with an open door and telescope visible inside

McDonald Observatory

COSMOS-Web Releases Deepest Yet View Into the Universe

June 6, 2025 • by Emily Howard

Over 250 hours of observations from the world’s most powerful telescope, the James Webb Space Telescope, are freely available to the public.