Finally, an amateur astronomer’s dream come true.
2 acre, Home and Observatory sites located adjacent to the WORLD FAMOUS, New Mexico Skies Observatories.
● We’re not “just down the street.”
● We’re not “a dozen miles away as the crow flies.”
● We ARE located on the same mountain as
New Mexico Skies Observatories.
In fact, to get to our sites, you’ll drive past New Mexico Skies Observatories.
The Running Man. - Eleven 3 minute exposures from New Mexico Skies with a Canon 20Da, one shot color camera and an Astro Physics refractor were combined to create this excellent image. The imager is "still learning" how to process the data, he's taken no more than 50 digital images. Once he masters Photo-Shop, he'll be an excellent imager.
New Mexico Skies Observatories.
You all know of Mike and Lynn Rice, owners of the New Mexico Skies Observatories. Many of you have already spent a week or two enjoying the night at New Mexico Skies. If you’ve already been here, there’s nothing more to say. For those of you who haven’t been to New Mexico Skies, there’s only one way to describe it: New Mexico Skies is simply the finest amateur astronomy
site in the continental United States. In fact, PBS did a prime-time documentary called "SEEING IN THE DARK” that featured the New Mexico Skies Guest Observatory.
History of New Mexico Skies.
Mike and Lynn Rice spent years searching for the ideal location for their Guest Observatory. They searched high and low, they drove countless miles searching for the one, the only site that would be worth staking their reputation on. After finding several sites that were “almost” good enough, they finally came across a small mountain in southeast New Mexico.
It was surrounded by the Lincoln National Forest, and the only other residents were amateur astronomers.
The seeing on any given night is excellent, and it’s regularly below 1 arcsecond. The darkness was better than anywhere else that they found, with a limiting visual magnitude of up to 7.7. The "transparency" of our skies is phenomenal, day and night. Our 7,280' elevation puts us well above most of the atmospheric borne pollution and particulate matter. The Sacramento
Mountains are on the "high desert" and our skies benefit from the clean, dry air associated with desert environments. Fog is very rare, and airborne pollen content is usually low.
The weather here is very special. Due to New Mexico Skies unique location, there is a “micro-climate” that offers us spectacular skies, day and night. In any given year, up to 70% of our night time hours are clear, and we typically exceed 50% of our nights that qualify as “perfectly clear” and “photometric”. With pristine skies and as many as 260 clear nights per year, Mike and Lynn Rice found the perfect location for New Mexico Skies.
About YOUR
Home and Observatory Site.
Each home and observatory site is ideally situated such that you’ll have excellent views, both day and night. Each lot has a dedicated “observatory only” area, that provides panoramic views of our night skies. Your home site will be situated so that neither your view of the night sky, nor you neighbors view will be obstructed. Plus, the daytime views from your home site will be spectacular. Of course, we have
all the necessary deed restrictions to protect our precious night skies. Additionally, we’re surrounded by the Lincoln National Forest, so our dark night skies will remain that way. We only have a limited number of sites available, so once they’re sold, they’ll be gone for ever.
• A Very Limited Number of 2+ Acre,
Home and Observatory Sites with:
• Astronomy Specific Deed Restrictions,
• Underground Electric & Telephone,
• High Speed DSL Internet Service,
• Community-Wide Water System,
• Home Owner's Association,
• Private Roads.
Interesting facts.
We're located in Otero County, New Mexico, which has approximately 6,630 square miles of land area. According to 2006 estimates, our entire county had a population of only 62,774, and over 42,000 live in our 5 largest communities. As a county wide average, that's less than 10 people per square mile, and if you exclude the 5 largest communities, our county wide average drops to less than 3 people
per square mile, or 1 person for every 213 acres. (US Census Bureau data)
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