McDonald Observatory, TX 2714a

I visited the observatory very early in the morning, when the visitor center wasn't open and the grounds crew was working. It seemed to be quite a contradiction for an institution like the observatory, which would be concerned about air pollution, to have their sidewalks cleaned with a gas powered, 2 cycle, leaf blower. Not only does a blower (of any power) add particulate to the air, but two-cycle engines are notorious polluters -- from where I was, I could smell the unburnt fuel in the exhaust fumes. Even if the observatory is so remote that this air pollution isn't a problem, it doesn't seem like good role modeling to be using an environmentally bad solution.