Ranger Bob said last week during his light pollution talk that Big
Bend was the darkest due to it's distance from other cities (no city
glow on the horizon), he did mention the McDonald Observatory and the
agreements but 'suggested' the agreement was not always followed. He
also mentioned that the Mexican village across the river was looking
at getting electrical power, that would change things.
There are photos available on the net of the world at night and you
can see the places that still have stars and the places that don't.

We had half a moon (+/-) for our nights there, that would have been
poor planning if we'd done any planning at all <g>!  We did get
photos of javelina, coyote, horses (Mexican, not wild, I asked),
turtles, hawks, buzzards, a crane(?), roadrunner and some fish in a
spring on one walk. Spectacular mountains, cactus & thorns...
everything has thorns in the desert it looked to me <g>.
Saw zero Vanagons in Big Bend.

Rob
vwrobb@gmail.com

At  3/26/2013 08:38 AM, Kris S. Seago wrote:
>I recall being told that Fort Davis, Texas, is the darkest spot in
>the lower 48. The McDonald Observatory has agreements with
>surrounding inhabitants (and there aren't many of those) to limit light.
>
>http://mcdonaldobservatory.org