White lights from phones disappear first. Headlamps switch to a dim, red glow, and dust covers crack away from telescopes before darkness settles over the Davis Mountains. Venus appears in the fading blue sky, followed by Jupiter. Hushed conversations drift across the field alongside the soft whir of motorized star-tracking equipment turning toward the heavens.Every year for a week, when the sun sets over the 1,300-acre Prude Ranch, a historic Fort Davis cattle ranch established in 1897, the Texas Star Party comes to life. By midnight, the observation fields settle into a subtle rhythm. Red headlamps drift slowly between telescopes like embers floating across the hillside. Every few minutes, a muffled voice cuts through the darkness—someone calls a neighbor over to look at Jupiter’s moons,…
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