McDonald Observatory receives $5 million challenge grant to studyelusive dark energy (Forwarded)

McDonald Observatory
University of Texas

Contact:
Rebecca Johnson
ph: 512-475-6763
fax: 512-471-5060

27 April 2006

McDonald Observatory receives $5 million challenge grant to study
elusive dark energy

AUSTIN, Texas -- Light might soon be shed on one of the great enigmas of
the universe -- dark energy -- thanks to a $5 million challenge grant
from Dallas' Harold C. Simmons to The University of Texas at Austin.
Simmons' grant will help fund the Hobby-Eberly Telescope Dark Energy
Experiment (HETDEX) at UT's McDonald Observatory by matching the next $5
million in private support received.

Discovered in the late 1990s, dark energy is a force causing the
universe to expand at an accelerating rate. But scientists are unable to
say what the energy is or how it fits with the known laws of physics.
"We know that it dominates the universe," said David Lambert, a UT
astronomer and the director of McDonald Observatory. "In fact, it
comprises an estimated 73 percent of the universe, while so-called dark
matter accounts for 23 percent, and matter of the familiar kind -- the
stars, galaxies, all known life -- comprises only four percent."

Simmons, the chairman of Contran Corporation, holds BA and MA degrees in
economics from UT Austin. He has previously given to UT athletic
programs and the McCombs School of Business, as well as to the UT
Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas. He said he hopes this gift will
help HETDEX make astronomical history. "I find the question of dark
energy intriguing and I am glad to help support the innovative research
program at McDonald Observatory."

HETDEX is the best contender for solving the riddle of dark energy,
according to Lambert, because it will combine a large telescope, a large
amount of observing time, and an innovative instrument that will allow
for a three-dimensional map of up to one million galaxies. "Many in the
scientific community believe that understanding the nature of dark
energy is the number-one question in all of science," he said. "We
cannot observe dark energy in the laboratory because its effects are
seen only on enormous scales. So the universe has to be the laboratory."

"Harold Simmons' grant is a terrific example of how philanthropists and
universities can be partners in the quest for new knowledge," said UT
President William Powers, Jr. "I share Harold's enthusiasm in this
project. The University is extremely grateful for his generosity."

A team of three UT astronomers -- senior research scientists Gary Hill
and Phillip MacQueen, and associate professor Karl Gebhardt -- is
developing HETDEX using the Hobby-Eberly Telescope, which is the third
largest in the world. With support from Simmons and other donors, the
McDonald Observatory is currently upgrading the telescope's field of
view from 4 arc minutes to 20 arc minutes.

-- END --

Notes:

For more information on HETDEX, please see the HETDEX website,
http://www.as.utexas.edu/hetdex/

IMAGE CAPTIONS:

[Image 1:
http://mcdonaldobservatory.org/news/...age.php?id=36]
The Hobby-Eberly Telescope. Credit: Marty Harris/McDonald Observatory.

[Image 2:
http://mcdonaldobservatory.org/news/...age.php?id=89]
This computer rendering shows what the upgraded prime focus package on
the Hobby-Eberly Telescope will look like, as well as the location of
new spectrographs, both critical parts of the Hobby-Eberly Telescope
Dark Energy Experiment (HETDEX). Credit: HETDEX Team/McDonald Observatory.