Nights dark enough to watch the sky turn.
Five rooms and two observatory domes on a high desert mesa in far West Texas. The nearest streetlight is 90 miles away.
The sky here
The sky above the mesa is rated Bortle 1, the darkest class there is. On a moonless night the Milky Way is bright enough to cast a shadow.
21.9
Sky brightness in magnitudes per square arcsecond. Anything above 21.7 counts as pristine.
4,500
Stars you can see with your eyes alone on a moonless night.
5,160 ft
Elevation. Thin, dry air keeps the stars steady.
90 mi
From the mesa to the nearest streetlight.
What you would see tonight
Worked out live for the mesa: moon phase, the hours of true dark, and the brightest stars overhead. Drag the slider to move through the night.
- Moon
- Waxing gibbous, 87% lit. Already up at sunset, sets 04:41.
- Sunset
- 19:53
- Fully dark
- 21:14 to 06:24
- No moon
- 04:46 to 06:24, 1 h 40 min of true dark
- VegaWNW 70°
- AltairSSW 66°
- DenebNNE 75°
- AliothNNW 16°
- MirfakNE 13°
- AlkaidNW 20°
North Window Room
A floor-to-ceiling window faces due north. Leave the blind up and the whole sky turns around Polaris over your bed.
Sleeps
2
From, per night
$420
Dome Suite
A suite with its own roll-off observatory. The 14-inch telescope is twenty steps from the bed.
Sleeps
2
From, per night
$890
Mesa Casita
Two bedrooms and a private deck with four loungers. The easiest way to bring the kids.
Sleeps
4
From, per night
$560
Roof Deck Room
A queen bed on a covered roof deck that opens to the whole sky. On clear nights you sleep outside.
Sleeps
2
From, per night
$480
Observer's Bunk
Simple twin bunks for astrophotographers who plan to spend the night at the telescope anyway.
Sleeps
2
From, per night
$240
The night programme
One night, hour by hour
Every stay includes the full programme. Guides are astronomers who live on the mesa, and every lamp on the walk between domes is red.
19:40
Supper on the west terrace
Three courses while the sun goes down behind the far mesas. The candles are red, and so is the wine list.
20:50
Let your eyes adjust
Twenty minutes with every light off before the tour starts. That is how long night vision takes to come in.
21:15
Sky tour with a guide
Constellations, the Milky Way and whichever planets are up, pointed out from the lawn with a laser.
22:30
The 24-inch telescope
Book a half-hour slot in the north dome to see galaxies, star clusters and nebulae through our largest telescope.
00:00
Photograph the sky
Cameras and tripods are set up by the dome. A guide helps you take home your own star-trail picture.
06:10
Coffee at first light
Watch the sky turn from black to blue from the east deck. Breakfast is served until eleven.
“We switched everything off, waited twenty minutes, and the Milky Way threw a shadow across the deck. I did not know that was possible.”
Maren Hollis, North Window Room, March 2026
“The guide found the Andromeda Galaxy for my ten-year-old in about four seconds. She has talked about nothing else since.”
Tobias Reyna, Mesa Casita, October 2025