On the last Monday of each month, KRTS’s Talk at Ten features a conversation with an astronomer from The McDonald Observatory. In this episode, astronomer Steve Odewahn speaks with colleague Don Winget, a fellow astronomer at the McDonald Observatory and the Harlan J. Smith Centennial Professor of Astronomy at the University of Texas at Austin.
Winget, a leading expert in the field of white dwarf stars, the final evolutionary state of the vast majority of stars in the universe, talks about studying this death stage of stars, how its possible to recreate conditions of a white dwarf in the laboratory here on Earth, and why astronomy is such an exciting field to work in.
The KRTS listening area is lucky enough to be home to some of the darkest skies in the nation. The McDonald Observatory’s facilities and telescopes are located on Mount Locke and Mount Fowlkes outside of Fort Davis, Texas. The observatory is a research unit of The University of Texas at Austin, and is one of the world’s leading centers for astronomical research, teaching, and public education and outreach. The McDonald Observatory is celebrating its 75th Anniversary this year. Tune in to Talk at Ten on October 27th to hear the next conversation from this fascinating series.
