TAURUS had an epic adventure this past weekend, traveling the seven hours (by car) from Austin to McDonald Observatory in West Texas. We were scheduled for two nights of observing on the 2.7m Harlan Smith Telescope using the Coudé spectrograph, but this was also an opportunity for our scholars to take in the sites, the dark night sky, and visit some other telescopes while partaking in a professional astronomical observing run.
We arrived Friday evening on the mountain and got our bearings, walking the grounds and taking in the night sky. Unfortunately the moon was out and so were some clouds! The scholars retired early after watching some movies, prepping for the next day.
We toured the Hobby Eberly Telescope (HET) on Saturday afternoon, seeing the primary mirror first hand. Jordyn also tested out the azimuthal mount by swinging it around a few times!
The team was eagerly anticipating the first night of observations on the 2.7m. As we watched the sunset, we got a special treat. Anita Cochran, the observatory Assistant Director and TAURUS team observer, set up the telescope so we could view Jupiter through the eye piece! It was like a textbook image (see below!). Everyone took turns "driving" the telescope through the night. Oscar, Jordyn and Patrick took the trophy home for Saturday though, because they finished it out with Anita at sunrise. Everyone else didn't make it quite as far...
Sunday saw a brief tour of the historic 1939 2.1m Otto Struve telescope, and then excitement brewed because the moon was rising later that night... and it payed off, because everyone spent the hour after sunset being dazzled by the dark skies and the Milky Way. But soon, Anita enticed us all to come inside and see Saturn through the eye piece -- another textbook image! Incredible!
Even though the drive was long (very long), the trip was spectacular and well worth it! We hope to see the TAURUS scholars back here soon!
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