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  • Faculty

    Astronomy Department Faculty and
    McDonald Observatory Research Scientists
    work on nearly every area of modern astronomy.

  • McDonald Observatory

    The Astronomy Department is associated with
    McDonald Observatory, one of the premier
    observational facilities in the country.

  • Teacher Workshop

    Teacher workshops at McDonald Observatory

  • Simulation by Aaron Smith

    Simulation by grad student Aaron Smith of gas flows
    along filaments of dark matter which collapse to form
    the first galaxies.

  • Grad Students Girl Day

    Astronomy Grad students participate in Girl Day,
    which brings 5,000 K-8 girls to the UT campus.

  • Planet Proxima b

    Artist’s concept of the surface of nearby planet
    Proxima b, discovered by Research Scientist
    Mike Endl and collaborators.

A premier program in Astronomy research and education

The Department of Astronomy works synergistically with McDonald Observatory to advance excellence in research and education and to be an astronomy program that promotes belonging and equity for all. As one of the top-ranked astronomy programs in the nation, we lead frontier research in cosmology, galaxy formation and evolution, stellar evolution and star formation, exoplanetary systems, the Solar system, and instrumentation. We are a major founding partner in the next generation Giant Magellan Telescope.

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