Davis Mountain State Park, Texas – This is a pack night McDonald ObservatoryWhere dozens of people are crowded around high -power telescopes, as a thunderstorm is rolled.

Local and visitors across the country come here to experience an extinct and free natural resources: some dark night sky In this world,

Higher than the observatory in Davis Mountains, Far West TexasSome 6,800 hundred feet above sea level-You can see how far the desert floor is spread and the night sky feels almost within access. Under the shroud from tonight’s wires, couples hug, the heads bends towards the sky and leave the children from telescope to binoculars to get a glimpse of the celebial show.

Maya Havit said, “It seems amazing to see all these different constellations just.” The girl is here with her parents, Emma and Cameron Havit, and all three are looking through a telescope that has been indicated on a pair of stars in Big Dipper’s ‘handle’. “I think I am in a dream whenever I see here.”

Ethan Day, a telescope operator, indicates the sky, while Tuesday, May 27, 2025 helps to see the attendees through a telescope during a star party at McDonald Observatory in Fort Davis, Texas.

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About this 75,000 people Participate in the “Star-Parties” of the observatory throughout the year and take it to the famous dark sky of the region.

Cameron Havit said, “It makes me feel younger in a way – not negligible, but small, just a part of this entire universe that we live,” said Cameron House.

Recent research Shows that the night sky in North America is getting bright every year – on average, researchers say, you can see about 10 percent less stars than before the year. But The large bend area in Texas has stopped the brightness of light that washes the strings nights,

On 27 May 2025, Fort Davis in Texas, Fort Davis in Texas, a storm cloud rolls above the hills near McDonald Observatory in Texas.

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Over the years, astronomers and protectionists in the region have Lighting ordinances worked with cities and counties To reduce light pollution. He has also assured oil and gas operators in a nearby Permian basin-A major source of light pollution-Then get up from Dark-Skai Friendly Lighting In drilling rigs and gas plants.

In spring 2022, this area Was nominated As “Dark Sky Reserve”, which means that it is an area where the sky is not only darkness, but there are policies to help preserve the night sky.

‘A full sky shed’

And here reserve, dubbed Greater Big Bend International Dark Sky ReserveIs The greatest of its kind In this world. Reserve is one 15,000 square miles Stretching on a ribbon of the entire large twist area and northern Mexico – an area larger than Massachusetts.

“We are protecting a whole sky shed,” Stephen HamelDark Sky’s Coordinator in McDonald Observatory, which is managed by the University of Texas. “You can stand in the middle, and everywhere you can see as far as the horizon, still the dark sky reserve.”

Hammel says that it is important to preserve the night sky for the observant, it is very straightforward: if you can’t see them you cannot study stars.

A Summer Inner, Rachel Gheen, Tuesday, May 27, on 27 May, 2025 shows the attendees in the M13 circular cluster during a star party at McDonald Observatory in Fort Davis, Texas.

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“If we lose the night sky completely, it is like losing the information of a natural history museum,” Hammel said, who grew up in the Dallas-Fort Worth Region, called he calls, a “light-painted sky.”

“If we cannot preserve the dark sky here, it is in a way. In fact it’s not anywhere else. We can go to Earth. Now really really to make sure that we will have a good view of the night sky.”

And this “good view” is not just a boon for research, but important for dark sky local economy And important for the environment And also wildlife.

But for all its benefits, protecting the dark sky is not without its obstacles.

Amber Harrison, a non-profit organization in the US, Darkski International, says some people believe that a dark sky means no light.

“We are not talking about closing the lighting,” says Harrison, who lives in one of the deepest pocket of the reserve. “Light is not a bad thing, this is the way we use it.”

This means here, you will see Amber-tinted lights and hooded fixtures that keep light on the ground – Joe, together Other efforts, Pay a long way to maintain the darkness of the night sky.

A wire path of life

At a star party in Alpine, Texas, local musicians belt songs as Stargazers, like Jodi Kreer, spread blankets on crunchy desert grasses.

Hobby Abberley Telescope stands on top of a hill before the start of a star party at McDonald’s Observatory at Fort Davis, Texas on Tuesday, May 27, 2025.

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The iconic Marfa Water Tower and other buildings attack the horizon on Tuesday, May 27, 2025 in the Horizing in Texas.

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The region is proud of its designation as a dark sky reserve, from Alpine and Fort Davis to Marfa and Terlingua. The courthouse in Alpine is rolled with fixtures that reduce light pollution, portraying wildlife that relaxes mainly in the comfort of a dark sky. In Marfa, people can check a binoculars from the public library, and it is not uncommon for the people to drive their own stargsing to drive on the streets of the rural country.

“Dark Sky is just something that does not just experience everyone,” Jodi Kreer said, which has been done for “many star parties”.

The region’s stars sky attracted Kremer and her husband, Allen in the remote field.

Both are from the Houston region, where Jodi Kramer says, “You hardly get to see the stars.”

After a holiday for Big Bend, he fell in love with the area, and now he can regularly see astronomical miracles such as Milky Way from the yard of his house in Fort Davis.

“We came out of here because it is our happy place, something magical about it,” Jodi Kreer said.

“I mean there is nothing like that.”

The McDonald is a radio telescope, a radio telescope, Fort Davis in Texas on 27 May, 2025, McDonald Observatory in Texas, indicates in the night sky after the end of a star party at the Observatory.

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