About 80 miles east of San Angelo, near the geographical center of Texas, lies what is likely a first-of-its-kind “ranch” in the state, where a young astrophotographer named Bray Falls is running one of the largest “telescope ranches” on Earth.
Stargazers from around the world ship their telescope gear to Falls, which hosts and manages more than 500 loaned telescopes on 40 acres of gently rolling terrain north of Brady at Rockwood.
Its site is in a “dark sky” zone, offering pristine views of the cosmos free of light pollution.
Fall’s “Starfront Observatories” accepts telescopes from clients, then mounts them allowing the owners remote access to position their scopes from anywhere for a nominal monthly fee.
The ranch houses hundreds of high-tech telescopes stored inside several large metal buildings. Each telescope is securely and accurately mounted on a concrete pier, aligned with the celestial pole to ensure it’s perfectly parallel to Earth’s axis of rotation. The alignment enables the telescope to track the night sky seamlessly.
During the day, the roofs of the buildings safely protect the scopes, but at night, the fun begins as the roofs roll back to reveal the telescopes’ nightly ritual of peering into the depths of the universe, yielding control to their owners thousands of miles away.
With these advanced scopes, owners obtain high-resolution images of their targets.
To see the ranch and its unique tenants, along with amazing star views and videos, train your browser to Starfront Observatories.
