Putman Mountain Observatory

Falcoln Heavy Launch

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On February 6, 2018, SpaceX launched their Falcon Heavy Rocket from pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center.  Pad 39A is the same launching pad used by the Apollo program to send astronauts to the moon. Falcon Heavy is the most powerful operational rocket in the world by a factor of two and can lift [...]

Supernova 2017 eaw

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A new supernova has been discovered in the Fireworks galaxy (NGC 6946).  The Fireworks galaxy is aptly named for the record number of supernovae that have exploded in it over the the last century.   Supernova 2017 eaw was discovered on May 14 and now the number of supernovae recorded in the Fireworks galaxy is […]

Zodiacal Light

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Now is the time of year when the zodiacal light appears in the western sky shortly after twilight.  The zodiacal light is a faint ethereal glow rising in the west in a pyramid shape pointing toward the zenith.  The zodiacal light gets its name from the glow it makes along the line of the ecliptic […]

Enchanted Rock Light Pollution Study

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In August of 2015, Bill Wren from McDonald Observatory took measurements from the top of Enchanted Rock to determine sources of light pollution.  He used equipment on loan from the National Park Service to make a panorama photograph of the night sky.  The measurements were processed by the National Park Service to subtract natural light [...]

All Sky Cam Video

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All Sky Cam Video The All Sky Cam has a new feature - it now records and displays a time lapse video of the sky from the prior night.  By clicking the play button on the video below, you can watch the time lapse video of the sky.  You can see the stars and Milky [...]

Robotic Mirror Cover

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Introduction Putman Mountain Observatory’s main instrument is a 16” Ritchey Chretien telescope manufactured by RC Optical Systems. The primary mirror is made from Zerodur which is a zero expansion material to make sure the mirror figure and shape do not change by temperature fluctuations. The primary mirror is also ion milled to 1/40 wave RMS. [...]

Asteroid 2004 BL86

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On January 26, 2015, the Putman Mountain Observatory telescope was pointed to a near earth object (referred to as an NEO designated 2004 BL86) that passed within 750,000 miles from Earth.  This asteroid was photographed in a timed video sequence of approximately 50 separate images.  Each image in the video sequence is a five second […]

New Website Design

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The Putman Mountain Observatory website has been completely redesigned.  A major function of the old website was to dispaly real-time weather information.  The new website improves on the weather information by providing more detail such as forecasts and National Weather Service Alerts for Fredericksburg, Texas. The new website also displays astrophotography taken by the observatory telescope.  Finally, [...]

Boltwood Cloud Monitor

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The Boltwood cloud sensor is made by Diffraction Limited and measures the amount of cloud cover by comparing the temperature of the sky to the ambient temperature at ground level.  The sensor measure the sky temperature in the 8 to 14 micron infrared radiation band.  A large difference between the ambient temperature at ground level [...]

All Sky Camera

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All Sky Camera The  All Sky Camera is made by Santa Barbara Instruments Group (SBIG).  The camera is an astronomical camera mounted in a weatherproof enclosure with an acrylic dome for the camera lens.  The camera lens is a fish-eye type to give a full view from horizon to horizon. The camera is permanently mounted [...]