A group of astrophotographers has created the world’s largest remote observatory, Starfront Observatories, enabling fellow photographers to photograph the cosmos under remarkably dark, clear skies in rural Texas from anywhere in the world.
One of the minds behind the project, Bray Falls, made headlines in 2023 after he discovered a stunning supernova remnant, and says he’s been working on Starfront for the past year.
Falls says that Starfront is the world’s largest remote observatory by quantity of scopes, and shared the photo below that shows hundreds of telescopes pointed up toward the sky.
This is what I’ve been up to the last year! Building the largest remote observatory in the world
(By quantity of scopes) pic.twitter.com/M1Gu3kyiMG
— Bray Falls (@astrofalls) July 8, 2025
“Every telescope [in the photo] is owned by a person,” Falls explains. “Each person can log in remotely to use their telescope to capture photos of space from our dark skies!”
Starfront Observatories is located in the hill country of rural central Texas, northwest of San Antonio and Austin. The area has very dark skies, offering photographers access to Bortle 1 conditions that can be very challenging to experience in many regions of the United States and beyond.
“The facility is designed to provide astrophotographers with the best possible conditions to capture stunning celestial images, eliminating the limitations of light pollution and constant travel,” Starfront Observatories explains.
Astrophotographers purchase a slot at Starfront Observatories and send their remote telescope setup to the team. Once up and running, the telescope owners have uninterrupted access to their remote observatory setup and have support from the experts at Starfront Observatories, who together have decades of astrophotography experience.
All the telescopes are housed below a state-of-the-art roll-off roof facility that automatically opens when the seeing conditions are good and keeps the equipment protected the rest of the time, including with climate-controlled telescope stations.
Falls tells PetaPixel that the site is constantly staffed, ensuring that everyone’s equipment stays secure and protected.
“At Starfront, the mission is to remove barriers to astrophotography and provide a worry-free, top-tier remote hosting experience. With over 220 clear nights per year, the observatory’s location offers unrivaled clarity and stability, allowing you to focus solely on capturing the wonders of the cosmos,” Starfront says.
Telescope bays, or “piers” as Starfront calls them, start at $99 per month for SeeStar telescopes and up to $799 monthly for massive, heavy-duty telescopes with significant swing diameters. Other piers, including Mini, Lite, and Standard offerings, cost $149, $199, and $299 monthly.
While this may seem like a hefty price to pay, it pales in comparison to the costs that many astrophotographers incur when traveling to reach dark skies, which is not only expensive but also very time-consuming. High-end astrophotography requires dark skies, which are, unfortunately, increasingly rare around the globe. Providing astrophotographers the chance to experience dark skies year-round and take photos that would otherwise be impossible for them to get in their own hometowns is incredible.
The observatory, which broke ground in May 2024, has over 460 remote telescope systems currently installed within 11 observatory buildings. So far, t has proven to be an extremely popular idea among the passionate astrophotography community.
As Falls shows in the photo below, a remote observatory like Starfront also provides unique opportunities for astrophotographers to work together and point all their telescopes in one direction, essentially creating a “large” telescope with increased light-gathering capabilities.
One big question I got about the observatory is if we have ever pointed all the scopes at one spot? The answer is yes!
This is the result of one such effort, 1650 hours of exposure in Ursa Major! pic.twitter.com/IPt9Cyh7Xp
— Bray Falls (@astrofalls) July 10, 2025
The photo above was captured using 23 remote telescopes, each owned by unique astrophotographers.
“Together, the group forms one huge virtual telescope with huge light-collecting capabilities,” Falls says.
Last year, 25 of the people with telescopes at Starfront Observatories also pointed their scopes at the Triangulum Galaxy and collected over 1,000 hours of total exposure time.
And, much like Falls himself has done, some astrophotographers banded together to discover supernova remnants as a team.
We have even used the collective power of the observatory to discover supernova remnants, and planetary nebula! Here is the first optical image of SNR G25.1-2.3 and our first planetary nebula discovery SFO1 pic.twitter.com/JfqvMvTSl7
— Bray Falls (@astrofalls) July 10, 2025
Starfront Observatories is fully operational now and welcoming new astrophotographers into the fold to enjoy rural Texas’ dark, clear skies. There is no doubt that the endeavor will enable more photographers to capture even better photos than ever before.
Image credits: Starfront Observatories and Bray Falls. Header image includes a photo of the Triangulum Galaxy (M33), which was captured by Falls and 24 other astrophotographers by combining their remote telescope setups.