A beautiful evening on Saturday, May 5, made it the perfect setting for the official dedication of the UTRGV Dr. Cristina V. Torres Memorial Astronomical Observatory at Resaca de la Palma State Park in Brownsville.
Hundreds of people gathered to celebrate and remember Torres, honored posthumously by the university with the naming of its observatory in her memory.
The observatory, and six powerful telescopes installed around it, will be available to the public for educational purposes.
Torres, who died three years ago, was a Center for Gravitational Wave Astronomy (CGWA) research assistant professor at legacy institution UTB-TSC, and is remembered as a scholar who eagerly shared her knowledge with her students and the community.
Her family attended the event and thanked the visitors and all those involved in the observatory naming. The event brought out local children and families, who toured the observatory and had a chance to get a much closer look at the stars through several telescopes set up outside the facility starting at nightfall.
UTRGV students also offered activities and science demonstrations, including the Physics Circus, and also offered information on some of their research.
FOR MORE INFORMATION
To learn more about the UTRGV Dr. Cristina V. Torres Memorial Astronomical Observatory, contact the Department of Physics and Astronomy in Brownsville at (956-882-6779) or in Edinburg at (956-665-3521).
