Minor Planet Named for Texas State Park

If you’re a nature lover, you might think that Brazos Bend State Park is “out of this world”…and now it really is.

“Brazos Bend” is the official name recently accepted by the International Astronomical Union to designate a minor planet discovered through telescopes located inside Brazos Bend State Park at The George Observatory, a satellite facility of the Houston Museum of Natural Science.
Joseph Dellinger, Max Eastman and Bill Dillon are a team of volunteer researchers at the George Observatory who spent four years observing the minor-planet Brazos Bend before it was eligible to receive its name.

Brazos Bend State Park Superintendent Steve Killian said, “The [park] staff and I thought it was a great way to showcase our great park, home of the George Observatory. We really have a hand-in-glove relationship with the observatory. We’re partners, and it is really a wonderful opportunity to have the observatory inside the park. It allows our neighbors from the Houston metropolitan area to really see a night sky. The stars are big and bright in Texas, and here especially, you can see that.”

The night sky over Brazos Bend’s 5,000 acres offers an unobstructed view of the stars unlike any other in the Houston area. On Saturday evenings, the George Observatory is open to the public for a small fee. An available 36-inch Gueymard Research Telescope is one of the largest telescopes in the nation open to public use.

In addition to stargazing at the observatory, Brazos Bend State Park offers wildlife viewing, fishing, picnicking and camping opportunities and more than 34 miles of hiking, biking and equestrian trails.

Brazos Bend State Park is located approximately an hour’s drive southwest of Houston. The park is open all week, year-round, from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday through Thursday, and from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. Friday through Sunday.

For more information:
• visit Brazos Bend State Park
• visit George Observatory