FIFTY STATES AWAYDue to having no WiFi or anything in the mountain area we had to walk in and book accommodation, which is hideously expensive, especially as we needed two nights. However being in the town about 3/4 of thge way up the mountain (approximately 5000 ft) does give way to fantastic views!
Fort Davis is the highest town in Texas, reaching an astonishing 6270 ft at its highest point. We needed sometime indoors to recover from yesterday’s drive, it’s harsh on the body, although an amazing experience.
Our activity was planned for later, so we had a lay in, visited a local shop to stock up for lunch and generally rested. What is our activity I hear you say? Well, being at such high elevation gives excellent views of the nights sky, with little light pollution! There’s an observatory up here called the Mcdonald Observatory that hosts star parties! Having hosted a mini one myself back in the UK (I must do another), we couldn’t resist!
The drive, whilst only 30 mins felt quite long from the town to the top. It curved around various mountains and windy paths, the sunset is a lot later in the states than back home. Expecting to arrive at the observatory at approximately 8.20pm, we actually got to see the sunset whilst we were driving which was an experience in itself.
At the Observatory, we sat for a constellation talk which was both informative and funny. The guide had the same sense of humour as most of the ones we’ve met have, which is quite English we have found. We had a good giggle, the guy had an amazing light stick that pointed out the stars very well, something I must obtain on my return. We had a choice if we wanted to attend the constellation talk or not and then we’re were basically free to roam the grounds and look through the assortment of telescopes set up to view the various objects of the night sky. It was absolutely freezing up here, there no shelter from the bitter wind and temperatures are lower this high up.
They had a good 30 or so telescopes set up including three of the ones in the big white domes. All pointed at various objects including, the Moon, Jupiter, Orion and the Seven Sisters star cluster (aka Pleiadies) all objects that I have observed with my own telescope. Other objects such as the orion nebula and further a-field star clusters that I have not yet seen were visible. I was super excited to try out all of the different types of telescope and they even had my one there! I can safely say that compared to other professional telescopes mine is awesome (good job Ben)!
We were asked not to take any pictures, as you would need to use the flash which disturbs everyone’s night vision, so I will have to leave you with a picture of the pair of us wrapped up for the event.
