Dark Sky’s of Texas

Dark Sky’s of Texas, there are a lot of areas in North America that are still considered dark sky areas. Meaning no light noise from cities, where you can see the stars clearly at night. Texas has quite a few of these places all along the southern edge.

I have to say, we have been meeting some amazing folks on this journey this year. The most memorable place so far is Marathon Texas. Our first place we camped at where astrophotographer’s come together with the most beautiful telescopic equipment I have ever seen. This is my first time ever hearing of this type of equipment and seeing how it works is very exciting to say the least.

This photo below is one of the telescopes I am talking about, we met a young man at this campground and started talking about dark sky’s and photography and he asked us if we have ever seen astrophotography equipment. No, we said. He said come with me and I will show you what it does.

This is his telescopic equipment. He was kind enough to explain the entire thing, how this scope is connected to his laptop and he programs what he wants it to do and the scope will follow what ever nebula he is trying to photograph for hours at night. They have cement pads on the ground for these scopes so there isn’t any motion blur when filming.

My video of Marathon Texas, a peak at an old west town. Here; Marathon Texas

He asked what kind of camera I had, I told him a Nikon. He said bring it over tonight and he will put my camera on the telescope and take some photos. This is the first shot he took with my camera connected.

This is, the Orion Nebula, it is the nearest star-forming region to Earth, located approximately 1,350 light-years away. Just amazing to see something like this photographed right in front of us.

Now, I don’t have the right editing software to edit a clear shot of this nebula. Like the photo below, this is the Orion Nebula as well that I copied from the internet taken with more precise equipment. There are people from all over the country that set their scopes up here and have them in locked building who can control them from their homes in other states.

Some of these professional photos like below, need a least a 3 hour timed exposure or more.

Below are two gentlemen that have a place right here in Marathon Texas and the equipment they use, in a building with a retractable roof that they can operate from home. Here is the link for more on this; Space for Everybody

Below; the Cigar Galaxy from my camera

Cigar Galaxy

Bode Galaxy, my camera. 12 million light years away

Bode galaxy from a bigger telescope.

Oh how small we really are in this beautiful place.

Dark Sky’s of Texas

Sandra J