Stargazing in Texas

I would go a little farther west than the Kerrville and Fredericksburg areas. We have hunted south of Fredericksburg for the last 49 years. It still gets pretty dark, and some nights with clear dry skies the milky way is very visible. But light pollution is creeping in. You can definitely see a "glow" coming from the east/southeast.

ppine wrote:
Low humidity, elevation above sea level and remoteness all help stargazing. In central Texas you can have one of them. In West Texas you can have two of them. In Nevada or Utah you can have all three.

No, in West Texas you can have all three. Head out near Alpine and Marfa. Elevation 4,600, desert levels of humidity, and extremely remote, as its the northern edge of Big Bend Country. It knocks a couple hours off the trip to the BBNP, yet leaves the same level of stargazing.

ron.dittmer wrote:
While in Black Canyon Of The Gunnison National Park, we attended a night ranger talk about light polution. He said the park is one of a few public parks in the country where man-made light polution is at it's least. The stars out at night were tremendous.

Our zero gravity chairs come along on our trips primarily for star gazing.

We attended a similar ranger talk at Big Bend National Park.

While in Black Canyon Of The Gunnison National Park, we attended a night ranger talk about light polution. He said the park is one of a few public parks in the country where man-made light polution is at it's least. The stars out at night were tremendous.

Our zero gravity chairs come along on our trips primarily for star gazing.

While it is further than your request. The McDonald Observatory is a great place to view. We stayed at Davis Mountain State Park while visiting.

Low humidity, elevation above sea level and remoteness all help stargazing. In central Texas you can have one of them. In West Texas you can have two of them. In Nevada or Utah you can have all three.

Kerrville is about a 4 hour drive from Houston. Pretty good viewing from there.

I took this picture in Big Bend NPS last April at about 4 AM. I'm not from the area, but I'm sure there's lots of other dark places too. The stars at night, are big and bright, deep in the heart of Texas; from what I hear. :)