Carroll ISD debuts new observatory

In addition the district will open the telescope for the campus astronomy club and community stargazing events.

"We have already used the telescope a few times," Graff said before the ribbon--cutting ceremony. "I was able to wake a bunch of high school kids at 5:30 a.m. to watch a lunar eclipse last week."

During a short presentation Dr. Taft Armandroff, the director of The University of Texas' McDonald Observatory at Fort Davis, Texas, welcomed Carroll ISD into the family.

"First I just wanted to say congratulations to Carroll ISD and the Hudson Foundation (the group who donated a majority of the funds for the project earlier this year) for the bold initiative of having a telescope and putting it directly in the hands of students," Armandroff said. "Fostering the students and encouraging them to learn about astronomy and get involved with the other sciences such as mathematics and engineering is just visionary of the district."

Southlake City Council approved the construction of the observatory in June. The telescopes are fitted with computerized motors, controlled by an iPad, which can track stars through the sky throughout the night so students do not have to continually reposition the telescopes.