About The New Location

Robinson, TX is located south of the Waco border in Central Texas, about halfway between Dallas/Ft. Worth to the north and Austin to the south. My house is in a fairly new development of duplexes and town houses (so new that in Google Maps, it's shown as an empty field).

According to the Light Pollution Map, we're a solid 5 on the Bortle Scale:

"Milkyway washed out at zenith and invisible at horizon. Many light domes. Clouds are brighter than sky. M31 easily visible. Limiting magnitude about 5.6 to 5.9. "

That's fairly generous, 'cause we had a new moon this week and I was barely able to see M31.

Click to enlarge

But good news abounds. Linda's folks live northeast of the city (Whiskey Hill Rd. on map, a 4 on the Bortle scale) and I know from casual naked-eye observing there that it's significantly darker - to the point where I can easily see the Milky Way down past Perseus and the Cygnus rift with eyes barely dark adapted and house lights on. This is encouraging. Also, the Central Texas Astronomical Society has some dark sites, including the Paul and Jane Meyer Observatory maybe an hour west of Waco, right on the edge of Bortle-3 territory. Further west is darker still (Bortle-2, mag. 7.5!). I think I'm going to love living in Texas.