Ft. Davis is in West Texas, about 80 miles north of the Mexico border.  It’s almost a mile high, at 5,050 ft. the highest elevation in Texas.  Local ordinances require outside lights to be red and shielded, so the light pollution is minimal.  As a result, Ft. Davis is the darkest observatory location in the continental U.S. 

 
The McDonald Observatory, at 8,400 ft. elevation,  includes 4 telescopes, the largest of which has a revolutionary geodesic curve design of 91 mirrors which combine to make a surface refraction of over 9 meters, the 5th largest telescope in the world.

Are you paying attention?  Remember, our sun
 is NOT in the middle of the galaxy! 
Note the creamy chocolate center.
Actual photo of the sun, taken today. The diameter 
of the sun is 109 earths wide. The white blotches 
 are sunspots, “cooler” areas caused by the
 differential rotation of the sun’s surface gas.
 Sunspots emit charged particles, that we see on
 earth as the Auroura Borealis.

 

Mike positioning a 160 TON telescope
with one finger.  (Superman cape
cleverly hidden under jacket.)