Observatory Summer Field Trip
In July 2016, nine Upper School students and four science faculty members visited The University of Texas McDonald Observatory near Fort Davis, Texas. The observatory’s Education Coordinator, Marc Wetzel, hosted the group for three days and gave them rare access to the observatory telescopes and research facilities, and introduced them to the on-site astronomers.
Students were treated to behind-the-scene tours of the original Hobby-Eberly, one of the world’s largest telescopes, housed inside the building, as well as a smaller telescope that is part of an autonomous worldwide network known as Las Cumbres Observatory Global Telescope Network. A few students had the opportunity to operate the telescopes, using the controls to rotate or tilt the scope, an experience very few observers are awarded.
“Though there were many highlights to the trip, it is hard to beat the dark-sky observations on the 36-inch telescope,” said Fletcher Carron, Stephen M. Seay ’68 Science Department Chair. “The experience, of course, helped grow the boys’ passion for astronomy, but it also gave them an excellent window into the fascinating engineering that makes astronomical research possible.”
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Students were treated to behind-the-scene tours of the original Hobby-Eberly, one of the world’s largest telescopes, housed inside the building, as well as a smaller telescope that is part of an autonomous worldwide network known as Las Cumbres Observatory Global Telescope Network. A few students had the opportunity to operate the telescopes, using the controls to rotate or tilt the scope, an experience very few observers are awarded.
“Though there were many highlights to the trip, it is hard to beat the dark-sky observations on the 36-inch telescope,” said Fletcher Carron, Stephen M. Seay ’68 Science Department Chair. “The experience, of course, helped grow the boys’ passion for astronomy, but it also gave them an excellent window into the fascinating engineering that makes astronomical research possible.”
St. Mark’s School of Texas
10600 Preston Road
Dallas, Texas 75230
214-346-8000
Dallas, Texas 75230
214-346-8000
About Us
St. Mark’s School of Texas is a private, nonsectarian college-preparatory boys’ day school for students in grades 1 through 12, located in Dallas, Texas. St. Mark’s aims to prepare young men to assume leadership and responsibility in a competitive and changing world.
St. Mark’s does not discriminate in the administration of its admission and education policies on the basis of race, color, religion, sexual orientation, or national or ethnic origin.
St. Mark’s does not discriminate in the administration of its admission and education policies on the basis of race, color, religion, sexual orientation, or national or ethnic origin.
