Come for the porch. Stay for the stars.

There's a reason our listing says "a sea of stars." Out here, the sky comes down to the fields on every side, and on a clear, moonless night you'll stop counting.

Our sky, honestly

• We're about 32.4 degrees north, so Polaris sits about 32 degrees above the northern horizon, and the sky reaches farther south than it does for most of the country.
• Dallas glows on the northern horizon, about 35 miles away, and Waxahachie lights the west a little. Face south and east for the darkest sky.
• It's dark country, not a certified dark-sky park. You'll see far more than in town: the bright Milky Way on summer nights, meteor showers, and star clusters with your bare eyes.
• The Moon matters most. Plan big nights around the new Moon. The calendar below tells you which nights are dark.
• Watch from the porch or the yard. The rocking chairs face open farmland, and you can be looking up 30 seconds after you turn off the lights.

2026-27 sky calendar

Times are Central and computed for the tiny home. Meteor rates are for dark skies with the radiant high; expect fewer.

Fall 2026

Winter 2026-27

Spring, summer, and fall 2027

No solar eclipse crosses Texas in 2026 or 2027. The last one was a big one: on April 8, 2024, the total eclipse passed right over Waxahachie.

Constellations by season

What's high around 9 to 10 p.m. Use a star app the first night; by the second, you won't need it.

Texas-only bonus stars

Being this far south shows you things most of the country never sees. You need a flat, clear southern horizon, and farmland is perfect for it.

• Canopus, the second-brightest star in the sky, peeks just 5 degrees above the southern horizon around 10 p.m. in early February.
• Omega Centauri, the biggest globular cluster in our galaxy, rises about 10 degrees high around 10 p.m. in early June. In binoculars it's a fuzzy ball of millions of stars.
• The Milky Way core climbs about 29 degrees above the southern horizon, highest around 10 p.m. in early August.

Planets: where to look

• Fall 2026: Saturn owns the evening, low in the southeast at dusk. Jupiter and Mars rise late and shine high before dawn.
• Winter 2026-27: Venus is the brilliant morning star from November into February. Jupiter and Mars move into the evening sky, both up all night by February. Saturn fades into the western evening glow.
• Spring and summer 2027: Mars and Jupiter hang in the evening sky, and Saturn returns before dawn by June.
• Fall 2027: Saturn takes over the evening again, and Venus slides into the evening sky by December.
• Mercury, the hardest one: try low in the west after sunset in late May 2027, or low in the east before sunrise in late November 2026.

Planets don't twinkle like stars do. A steady, bright light near where the Sun and Moon travel is almost always a planet.

How to watch a meteor shower

1. Check the Moon first. A bright Moon cuts what you see more than anything else. The calendar above shows when it sets.
2. Go late. For most showers, the best hours are after midnight, when your side of the Earth faces into the debris stream.
3. Get comfortable. Lie back in a reclining chair or on a blanket, facing the darkest part of the sky. You don't need to stare at the radiant; meteors streak across the whole sky.
4. Give your eyes 20 minutes, and keep the phone away. One glance at a bright screen resets your night vision.
5. Stay at least an hour. Meteors come in clumps and lulls. The patient people see the fireballs.

Satellites, comets, and auroras

• The International Space Station looks like a bright, steady light gliding across the sky in a few minutes, usually just after dusk or before dawn. Sign up for NASA's Spot the Station alerts for Waxahachie.
• Starlink trains, a line of dots moving together, show up a day or two after a launch, low after dusk.
• Comets are hard to predict. When a bright one appears, we'll update this page.
• Auroras are rare this far south, but the big solar storm of May 2024 put them over North Texas. Watch the NOAA Space Weather Prediction Center for strong geomagnetic storm alerts, then look north.

Astrophotography tips

With your phone

• Steady beats everything: a small tripod or a phone propped on the porch rail.
• Use night mode or the astrophotography mode, and let it run its longest exposure. Turn the flash off.
• Tap to focus on a bright star or planet, then don't touch it.
• Frame something: the tiny home's roofline, the porch posts, a hay bale. A foreground makes a star photo.

With a camera

The basics that make or break the shot

• Focus by hand: zoom into a bright star in live view and turn the ring until it's a pinpoint.
• Shoot RAW, set white balance around 3800 to 4200K, and use a 2-second timer or a remote.
• Turn off image stabilization on a tripod.
• Light the house for one second with a dim flashlight mid-exposure for that glowing-cabin look.
• The Milky Way core is in the south, away from the Dallas glow. Best months: June to August around 10 p.m. to 1 a.m.; in spring, look before dawn.

What to bring

• A red flashlight, or red tape over a regular one, to keep your night vision
• A reclining camp chair or a thick blanket
• Binoculars: 7x50 or 10x50 are perfect for the Moon, star clusters, and Jupiter's moons
• Layers, even in spring and fall; Texas nights cool off fast
• Bug spray in summer, and a hand towel for the dew that soaks everything by midnight
• A star app such as Stellarium or SkySafari, set to night mode, plus Clear Outside for the cloud forecast

Watch your step in the grass at night. Fire ants and the occasional snake are part of country life, so keep to the porch and the yard and bring a light.

Star parties and planetariums

Why stay with us

• No drive home in the dark. The best meteor hours are after midnight. Here, bed is 30 steps away.
• A porch made for looking up, with rocking chairs facing open farmland.
• Extremely quiet, so you'll hear crickets instead of traffic.
• A full kitchen for midnight snacks and an early breakfast after a 4 a.m. meteor watch.
• Sleeps up to 7, so the whole family or your astronomy friends can come.

Pair a stargazing night with a sunset dinner from our romantic getaway guide or a spring morning on the bluebonnet trails.

The honest take

• It's not a remote desert sky. Dallas glows to the north, and summer haze softens the horizon.
• The Moon decides a lot. Around full Moon, plan on planets, the Moon itself, and the brightest stars.
• Texas weather is Texas weather. Spring storms and summer humidity come and go; check the forecast before you book a shower night.
• A freight train passes on the far line now and then. It adds to the soundtrack.

Worth it? If you want the stars without a four-hour drive, yes.

Questions we get