McDonald Observatory dome telescope
— a white dome on a dark mountain, opened to the sky.
Not only on a wall.
McDonald Observatory dome telescope, on ceramic.
Each tile is finished by hand in our Knoxville studio. Artwork is slowly infused into the ceramic surface under high heat and pressure, and rests beneath a thin glossy finish. The colour lives in the surface, not on top of it.
Pick any four 4-inch tiles — National Parks you've been to, a Smokies set, the four seasons of one place. $ for a set of , cork-backed, ready to live on the table.
Each tile ships in a kraft box, tied with cream ribbon, with a handwritten note from the studio if you'd like to add one.
Three or five different vistas, hung together — a chapter of places you've been, or want to go.
“A white steel dome on the summit of Mount Locke, 6,791 feet above the Chihuahuan Desert. Inside is the 2.7-metre Harlan J. Smith Telescope, in service since 1968. The shutter rolls open at dusk, the dome turns on its track, and the mirror catches a sky as dark as any left in the contiguous United States. The Davis Mountains hold the dark for it. from the studio
The place, in three passes.
McDonald Observatory sits on Mount Locke in the Davis Mountains of West Texas, at an elevation of 6,791 feet, roughly 450 miles west of Austin and 16 miles north of the town of Fort Davis. The facility is operated by the University of Texas at Austin and opened in 1939 with the 2.1-metre Otto Struve Telescope, then the second-largest research telescope in the world. The summit now carries several domes, including the 2.7-metre Harlan J. Smith Telescope, dedicated in 1968 and named for the observatory's director at the time.
The site was chosen for its altitude, dry air, and remarkable darkness. The Davis Mountains region has one of the darkest night skies in the contiguous United States, certified by the International Dark-Sky Association as the Greater Big Bend International Dark Sky Reserve in 2022, the largest reserve of its kind in the world. The observatory works with surrounding counties on outdoor-lighting practices to protect the sky for research. On a clear moonless night, the Milky Way casts a faint shadow on the road up to the visitor centre.
The Frank N. Bash Visitors Center sits a short drive below the summit and runs daytime solar viewings, guided tours of the major domes, and a regular schedule of evening Star Parties at the outdoor amphitheatre. Tickets and current hours are listed on the observatory's site; the drive in from Interstate 10 takes about an hour from Fort Stockton and roughly two hours from El Paso. Visitors are asked to dim car headlights on the final mountain road to protect the night sky for working telescopes.
