In far West Texas, in the majestic Davis Mountains, life remains free and wild, absent of big city smog, traffic jams, crime and overpopulated shopping malls with far too few parking spaces and never enough room to breathe easy. In remote West Texas, time passes at a different rate, a timeless, rugged land full of mystery and beauty at every turn. Wildlife is abundant; people are honest and polite, and the nearest city of size is at least 160 miles away.

Welcome to Fort Davis, Texas, and the University of Texas-operated McDonald Observatory, a vigilant scientific eye to the sky in this remote West Texas region.

It isn't just the big telescopes that attract so much attention to McDonald Observatory though, it is also the quality of the observing site. There are four conditions that make this such a good location for astronomy:

McDonald Observatory is located so far south (30 degrees north of the equator), that many celestial objects are visible above the southern horizon from here that remain forever below the horizon to observatories located farther north.

At an elevation of nearly 7,000-feet above sea level, McDonald Observatory is above a substantial portion of the moisture in the Earth's atmosphere. This helps keep the sky steady and transparent.

The climate in the Davis Mountains is dry. The annual rainfall is 13 inches. On average, two out of three nights are clear.

McDonald Observatory is located in "the middle of nowhere". The nearest major city is 160 miles away so the Observatory enjoys some of the darkest night skies in North America.

Mt. Fowlkes is also the site of the McDonald Lunar Laser Ranging Station (left photo). A 30 inch telescope is used to fire a laser beam to retro-reflectors left on the moon by the Apollo astronauts. By timing how long it takes the light to make the round trip from here to the moon and back (nearly 3 seconds), astronomers are able to measure the changing motions of the moon (and other earth orbiting satellites) to within one inch.

Four hundred miles west of Austin and the central Texas Hill Country, Fort Davis is an historic frontier town lost in a rugged mountain oasis amidst the searing heat of the West Texas high desert. At nearly a mile high, the town of Fort Davis, population just over 2,000, is the county seat of Jeff Davis County. Valentine - population just over a thousand - is the county's only other incorporated town. Fort Davis has the honor of having the smallest crime rate in America, and may well be one of the most polite cities in the nation.

The uncluttered night sky of the region offers some of the best viewing of the stars even with the naked eye, but McDonald Observatory's many telescopes keep tab on celestial events, and there is plenty of opportunity to tour the facility and look through the lens of astronomical science. Just don't be surprised if you run into to noted astronomers from around the world, as this university facility is in the same race for science as other leading observatories; a star wars of science - the never-ending race for knowledge.

The community was once headquarters of the U.S. Calvary 24th and 25th Infantry - the famed Buffalo Soldiers. Here, American pioneers, ranchers, cowboys, Mexicans, Buffalo Soldiers, the Mescalero Apache and the Comanche all overlapped, creating an unusual mix of cultures adding to the natural mystique of the area.

Visit McDonald Observatory and the beauty of Fort Davis anytime of year for the perfect getaway - if you're looking for peace and solitude, and a yearning to gaze endlessly where men may yet dare to go.