A Night at the Telescope

The University of Texas at Austin offers unmatched opportunities for undergraduates to conduct research firsthand - for some, as soon as their freshman year. Situated within the College of Natural Sciences, the Harlan J. Smith Scholars program invites astronomy students to observe and take data on a 107-inch telescope at McDonald Observatory in the Davis Mountains of West Texas.

Karl Gebhardt, chair of the Department of Astronomy, started the program a year ago, and he continues to bring students to the observatory each semester. The students aren't just learning how the instruments work; they're contributing to active faculty research.

"The idea was to bring undergrads out here, train them on the telescope, and then they can take data and match with one of the researchers," said Gebhardt, the Herman and Joan Suit Professor in Astrophysics. "One of my main priorities in this whole program is that any data we take is for state-of-the-art science."

During this visit to McDonald, the students looked at a globular cluster in the Andromeda galaxy, trying to find a black hole in the center. They were tasked with taking spectra, or graphs of light intensity, during the night to understand how the black hole is affecting its surroundings. They stayed up all night capturing data, and although the work sometimes was be tedious, it's rare that undergraduates have opportunities to contribute to astronomy research in this way.