The Great Texan Telescope Ranch: Rent The Skies For $99
In a Nutshell
StarDate Observatories in remote Brady, Texas—free of light pollution—lets users rent telescopes starting at $99/month for remote astrophotography, eliminating travel hassles like weather uncertainty and costs; they've grown from groundbreaking in May 2024 to 550 scopes, adding 2-3 daily. Telescopes auto-track stars on equatorial mounts, capture events like Comet Lemon's ion tail in real-time, and enable discoveries such as unnamed nebulae. Owners treat scopes like "babies," with plans for expansion to Australia.
These notes were generated by AI and may contain inaccuracies.
Arrives in Texas and visits Cooper's Barbecue in Llano (pronounced Yano). Select beef brisket by looking at the meat, then it follows on a field trip through sides and fixins. Thank God and cow, eat, and thrive.
On the outskirts of Brady, Texas, the geographic center of Texas, called the heart of Texas. Driving through small towns feels normal, like growing up, right speed, nice people, free living.
Entrance to StarDate Observatories. Meets Sophie the dog and Bray Falls, co-founder of StarDate Observatories, a remote observatory in the middle of nowhere with no city lights or light pollution. People from around the world send telescopes here; staff sets them up for remote access via computer for observations or photos.
Telescopes housed in buildings, all in standard park position pointed north at Polaris or the north celestial pole, aligned with Earth's rotation. Everything fastened with concrete anchors into the floor. Equatorial mounts track sky motion from east to west for long exposures accurately and point anywhere in the night sky.
Mine's the coolest one in here. It's intended for very fast photography. Each of these lenses is F2. With three of them, get three times the exposure in a given time, collecting light super quickly. Cost about 20K with filters and everything. Used duct-taped water bottles as counterweight ballast.
Sign in to read the full notes
Get access to AI-generated notes, topic timestamps, and more.