Oil vs. Astronomy: The Race to Protect the Night Sky in West Texas
The Milky Way streams across the sky above McDonald Observatory in Fort Davis
Ryan Michalesko / Dallas Morning News
West Texas is famed worldwide for its vast crude oil reserves. But for over 75 years, a small patch of the Permian Basin has also been valued for its pitch-black night sky.
Those two prized natural resources have clashed in recent years as oil drilling has brightened the sky near McDonald Observatory. A collaboration between the petroleum industry and the observatory — home of North America's largest telescope — appears to have made progress in slowing the creeping light pollution.
