Often, virtually no light pollution, and except for fire season and occasional dust, little of the other kinds.
One note QD, from the mountain the lights of El Paso (~200 mi) are visible to the west and the lights of the oil fields about ~80-100 miles north are also visible on clear evenings....Cheers
Thanks Mike, Yes, I do like that area, just north of Ft Davis....btw, Hwy 90 from San Antonio to I-10 is one of my all time favorite roads in America...Cheers
Born in San Angelo and grew up in San Antonio, my old stomping grounds.
Univ of Texas's McDonald Observatory is located just outside Ft Davis TX on Mt Locke in the Davis Mountains of West Texas. All the information about the site is explained here; https://mcdonaldobservatory.org/about a good read.
Whenever we travel through West Texas, we always plan a stop in Alpine TX and schedule a night time Star Party, a night of star gazing at the observatory with many of their telescopes. Excellent programs, excellent speakers and so informative. West Texas and the Davis Mountains provide some of the darkest skies in the Continental US. Cold and clear and winter seems to be the best times we've found and as for cold, its cold, mighty cold on that mountain in February.
If you are ever passing through W Texas and have the chance, a Star Party at the McDonald Observatory is well worth it. In the winter time, dress warm, really, really warm....this was taken in early Feb a few years back and really cold.
Univ of Texas's McDonald Observatory is located ju... (show quote)
Check the months the Milky Way will be visible. The night we were there the Milky Way looked like it was only about a mile away, so close there was no way one could get it all in a single photo. Why I didn't get any photos. Evening was cloudy and rainy and looked like no photo possibility, thus Star Party was planed inside. The camera left in car. Announcement made the sky had cleared. Stepped outside and had my breath taken away with the Milky Way beauty. Ran for the car to get camera, looked up in time to see cloud cover returning. Stayed clouded over the remainder of the evening.
Check the months the Milky Way will be visible. The night we were there the Milky Way looked like it was only about a mile away, so close there was no way one could get it all in a single photo. Why I didn't get any photos. Evening was cloudy and rainy and looked like no photo possibility, thus Star Party was planed inside. The camera left in car. Announcement made the sky had cleared. Stepped outside and had my breath taken away with the Milky Way beauty. Ran for the car to get camera, looked up in time to see cloud cover returning. Stayed clouded over the remainder of the evening.
Check the months the Milky Way will be visible. Th... (show quote)
Absolutely, the MW looked like you could touch it, however it was clear and mighty cold the night we went, the concrete benches were brutally cold... We even watched the ISS fly over, crystal clear and Andromeda, even thru binoculars, was so spectacular.
Univ of Texas's McDonald Observatory is located just outside Ft Davis TX on Mt Locke in the Davis Mountains of West Texas. All the information about the site is explained here; https://mcdonaldobservatory.org/about a good read.
Whenever we travel through West Texas, we always plan a stop in Alpine TX and schedule a night time Star Party, a night of star gazing at the observatory with many of their telescopes. Excellent programs, excellent speakers and so informative. West Texas and the Davis Mountains provide some of the darkest skies in the Continental US. Cold and clear and winter seems to be the best times we've found and as for cold, its cold, mighty cold on that mountain in February.
If you are ever passing through W Texas and have the chance, a Star Party at the McDonald Observatory is well worth it. In the winter time, dress warm, really, really warm....this was taken in early Feb a few years back and really cold.
Univ of Texas's McDonald Observatory is located ju... (show quote)