mcdonald observatory

Who knew there where so many stars. Very educational and wonderful to see. Small café to eat at. Take a light weight jacket as it gets cool at night

It’s quite impressive here, the observatory high in the Davis Mountains (also quite a nice drive towards it, also at night). We did a tour during the day that lasted 2,5 hours lead by a very nice and well informed tour guide, Dan. First an introduction by him in the auditorium, a bit about the basics, although for me still difficult I must say, but Dan spoke very clear and so it was not the language why I didn’t understand all, it’s just the complex matter, but still very interesting (I understood enough of it). Then he drove us in the van futher up to the big telescope. We saw the inside of it and Dan showed us how everything worked just with a remote control, like the roof that opened (of course normally at darkness) and the telescope moving to different corners. Very fascinating to see. You were allowed to take all the pictures that you wanted. At night we went to the star party, really great and we were glad that we decided to stay 1 night there to experience this (fortunately there was room available in the little town of Fort Davis, just a few hotels there). It was very crowded, you don’t expect that in November. First we were informed about the several star constellations and after that we could take a look through several telescopes to some of the constellations. It was full moon and so may be a bit too bright to see a lot of stars. The advantage was that we had really a great look on the moon through one of the telescopes, quite impressive to see. After that it was quite a challenge to go downwards to our hotel but, it is very dark there (one of the reasons they put the telescopes there of course), but we made it.

Don't pass this up if you are within a couple of hundred miles and are even vaguely interested in space. The center is kid oriented, but we were absorbed by it as well. The evening star watch programs are very well done with lots of telescopes for viewing various heavenly bodies, and very informative presenters using lasers to point out the various stars and constellations.We also did the tour of the large telescopes and were awed by the complexity and precision of the engineering that went into the construction of these marvelous machines.All in all, highly recommended, especially if you have budding scientists in your brood!

4 classes in 7 hours and loved every minute of it. Tom and Kevin were great facilitators. Cafe had a great selection. Would suggest bringing blanket for star party and dress in layers.

Visited the Observatory in June. Rode motorcycles up before dark, almost froze on way back down after dark. Beautiful view of the night sky and constellations. Due to a light ordinance I the county (no lights pointed up) the view of the night sky is unparalleled. The telescopes were awesome but for me the best part was the star party outside. There is a guide with a laser pointer outside pointing out the constellations as they move across the night sky. Will definitely go again.

Its almost a 20 mile drive out of town and up te mountain side to get to the observatory, but its well worth the drive, we made it to the march 6th 730pm star party, we got to see jupiter and venus and another star cluster in some high power telescopes, there is also a boring tour of the night sky lecture that u can stay for or leave, you will not get to look thru the huge telescopes unless u book a private viewing at about $125 per ticket is what i was told by a staff member.

The subject line of your post is more than a little misleading. I'm sorry to hear that the evening you visited brought us clouds but, as you say, it does happen from time to time. Not 100 nights per year, however. Over 2/3rds of the nights of the year are clear enough for research purposes but, at the Visitors Center, we're not doing research. Our percentage of clear nights, or clear enough nights for our programs, is actually quite a bit higher than that. "No Stargazing Anytime" makes it sound like we never do any viewing of the night sky which is patently untrue as you can see from the many other reviews about our Star Party programs.The programs we offer on cloudy nights are designed to stimulate thinking and questioning about space and astronomy. We do not have a multimillion dollar planetarium ... something like that is far beyond the scope, as it were, of our efforts. However, as you can see in other reviews, many people find the cloudy night program offerings to be quite interesting and stimulating.As for the rain-checks ... yes, we're not terribly conveniently located (kind of has to be that way to have a successful research observatory) but we have many, many return visitors for whom the rain-checks offer a convenient way to make a return visit.

Excellent. You've got to make the trip. The views are fantastic and the science is interesting to almost everyone. Facility is clean and well managed.

Reserved a spot for the Star Party! What a wonderful evening, even though it was cold. We dressed warm and in layers, knowing it would be cold at night. Star Party was from 7:30 - 9:30. I even brought a cushion to sit on, knowing outside benches would be very cold! We were able to view thru 8 different telescopes, in the Telescope Park. Learned so much in such a short time! Very informative speaker, was able to point to stars with green laser that was spot on! A must see if you are within a couple hours drive.Gift Shop and little Cafe were open until we left

We were there during the day when there was a fog and snow, so we didn't see much. There is a tour, but we missed it. The display area was small.

We were able to join the scheduled tour which made the visit more meaningful. Our guide explained everything and took the time to answer our questions. The drive to the observatory was beautiful and enjoyable. The facilities were great!

If you're in the Texas outback, don't overlook this little gem, nestled in the hills. The facility is a nice, approachable size, and they have a little bit of everything for stargazers, young and old. We thought the exhibits were too pricey for a quick visit, such as the one we were on. If we lived closer, we'd show for some of their special events. The drive to/from the observatory is a treat for any who might live on some very flat terrain.

Beautiful dark skies and the tours were very informative. Would visit again if I was in the area. Just wish I had more time to spend there.

My husband is an amateur astronomer, so we visited the Observatory. Although I have not had a lot of interest in astronomy, I learned a lot from the tours but most from all the lectures. The employees who conducted these tours were very informative and gained my interest. The Star Party was awesome, although there were lines to view the stars through telescopes. All in all, I found this observatory to be well worth the money and would encourage anyone to visit.

We went to the early evening lecture and stayed for the Star Party where we were able to view stars through a variety of telescopes. Suitable for familes and dress warmly if you are going at night.