Welcome to The NMAV The New Mexico Astronomy vi llage

The Good

The area where we bought property is a flat scenic valley at 4800' elevation with beautiful mountains in the distance, but not close enough to cause seeing problems. The area has clear skies over 300 nights per year. This underdeveloped neighborhood started selling five acre lots around 20 years ago. Out of 84 total lots, many have been sold, but only 15 have homes on them so far. 20 miles of out town is a bit far out for working people to live and there is no shortage of cheap land close to town for those who are not looking for dark skies.

The development is 20 miles north of Deming, and 30 miles south of Silver City on highway 180, near the City of Rocks state park. The land is fairly flat grasslands, with deer, antelope, and lots of small critters including coyotes. Our land is 3/4 mile off the pavement, on good gravel county maintained roads. Only 20 minutes to town. Of course there is a Super Wal-Mart and lots of other stores.

The sky is dark, and the stars are brilliant. We have observed from the property with our 16" and 24" telescopes, and the seeing and transparency were excellent.

Cell service is excellent. Four bars on my Verizon phone. The tower is three miles to the north. The white strobe light turns red in the evening. Internet can be either phone modem, cell card, or satellite. I have a 4-G MiFi that works great.

New Mexico has lighting laws passed in 1999 that say any new outdoor lighting of 150 watts or larger must have full cutoff shielding.

In the fall of 2010 we ended a six month tour of the west, looking for the perfect place to relocate our 42" go-to Dobsonian. We moved to darker, drier, and more transparent skies with good seeing. We had been observing in the west many times over the years, and we are well aware of the effect the wonderful transparency of the dry desert skies has on both visual observing and imaging. We learned that the seeing is far better on level grasslands than rocky mountainous areas!

After 14 years of living at the Chiefland Astronomy Village in Florida, Tom and Jeannie Clark moved to New Mexico in March of 2012. We built our new home and are looking for more astronomers to become our neighbors. Living in an astronomy village was a very enjoyable experience that we hope to continue in New Mexico; lots of observing buddies and social life.

This 'astronomy village' will be informal. No one is in charge, or trying to make a profit from your moving here. The five+ acre lots for sale from the original developer are listed at reasonable prices. There are also some re-sales available. We hope to have around 50 astronomy families in the area when the lots are all sold.

Here are some of the requirements we were looking for:

1. Black skies on the light pollution maps
2. No miles and miles of rough dirt roads. One mile max was our limit.
3. Good seeing
4. Good transparency
5. Low humidity
6. Room for other astronomers to move to the area
7. Good restaurants and grocery stores less than 1/2 hour away
8. A reasonable year round climate.
9. An affordable area with low taxes
10. Golf courses and other activities close by. (We are not hermits)
11. Able to park your RV on your property
12. An astronomy club nearby
13. Plenty of room for astronomy friends to visit and observe

Cloudy Nights relocating thread

City of Rocks State Park

History:

We found many places that had black skies but did not work out for many reasons.

We fell in love with Flagstaff, AZ (6800') until learning about the 200" average yearly snowfall, and hearing that it is under 30˚ over one-half the nights of the year.

The Cloudcroft area (9000') sounded great until looking at the light-pollution maps. Study the climate and it is very cold for a good part of the year. Land was for sale around New Mexico Skies (7000') Only $175,000 for two-acre lots! A bit expensive? They also have way too many rules. Decent grocery stores are one hour away. No modular homes: Expensive homes only.

Ranch Hidalgo (4450') sounded good, but heard that they had sold out already. Again an hour or two to decent stores like Wal-Mart or Home Depot.

In most parts of the country, by the time you find dark skies with good seeing, you are far from civilization, restaurants, and the mall. Good paved roads do not go out there. We looked at many places that had horrible rough roads that an RV could not navigate. We started looking in New Mexico because it has a low population density and it is a low-tax state. A state-wide lighting ordinance was enacted in 1999. They know they have dark skies and want to protect them.

We first learned about the Silver City area (6000') by searching for astronomy clubs in New Mexico. The Silver City Astronomical Society (SCAS) is a fairly new and active club. It's small but growing and only about 3 years old. They also have some private observatories in the area. I contacted the club officers, and was invited to some of the member's homes. Nice people! I gave a presentation at one of their club meetings where the warm welcome was appreciated. After a month of looking around SC and looking at property in all directions, we picked a location (4850') between Silver City and Deming, that would be suitable for the new observatory for our 42", and purchased our property. We moved to the site in March of 2012.

The Bad

The land is flat. Flat means light domes in the distance. All domes are low and unobtrusive on clear nights.

The Deming (population 15,000) light dome is about 5-10 degrees high in the SE. Las Cruces is dim but detectable from 60 miles away to the E-SE. West is black. The Silver City (population 17,000) can barely be seen 30 miles N. If you plant a few trees, as some of the neighbors have done, you will see nothing but black sky…

There is a tiny 'Rest Area' on the highway, with a few lights. The few parking lot lights are full cut-off lights with no sky glow, but two small ones on the side of the rest rooms are not shielded.

There are a few 'yard lights' in the development and about a dozen neighbors in a one-mile square area. We have observed from the area, and the neighbor's light interference is minimal. Our plan is to position our house and workshop to block any lights that can be seen from our lot. The house and workshop will also block lights from highway 180. I have already met the land owners with the unshielded light and they are very nice folks, and anxious to look through our telescopes. Hopefully, they will let us replace the old yard light with a new one when they get to know us a little better. They would have better light at lower cost on their property, and also put them into compliance with New Mexico's state law. (Night Sky Protection Act NMSA1978 ARTICLE 12 )

I may be over-emphasizing the light domes and local lights, but want to tell the truth. A few trees and shrubs can totally eliminate any lights from your property, including the light night time traffic on 180.

We will plant shrubs to shade our property and dome from highway and neighbor's lights. If you are an imager and build a roll-off roof observatory, you should not have to worry about any lights and will enjoy nearly perfect skies…

We lived on site five months in our motorhome while our shop was being built in 2011, and again while waiting for our new home to arrive in 2012. We moved into the new home in late May, but now the most important detail is under construction - a new dome for our 42".

10/13/2012

A photo from our first little star party. There are more on the photos page. The weather was perfect, and if you had been here you would never want to observe from any other place!

Platt layout and lot prices

NMAV

Yahoo

Group

These buttons are all links to additional pages of information about the area. Check them out.

Join our Yahoo Chat Group It was set up as a convenient place to answer any questions you may have about the NMAV, and to keep up with what is going on in the neighborhood. Please state your real name when joining, and sign your posts with your real name.

NMAV

Photos page

Imagine a place 4800' above sea level, where the sky is BLACK, the seeing is GOOD, and the transparency is FANTASTIC. Imagine your 16" performing like a 24", and a 24" acting like a 40". In a very short time we will find out what our 42" will do under these skies. It should be mind blowing - and that is why we moved out here!

The weather is pretty mild year round – not too hot in the summer and not too cold in the winter. At altitude it is cool at night and warm in the afternoons. It's very good for observing with 300 clear nights per year.

The NMAV is under black skies - 21.7 SQM - but only 20 minutes to Deming and 30 minutes to Silver City. Land is inexpensive yet you are not isolated in the middle of nowhere. Decent stores and civilization are not too far away!

A paved highway runs right up to the edge of the neighborhood, so there is no bone-jarring, auto distroying dirt roads to get here. Come join us for a new adventure in astronomy and the best observing of your life!

The City of Rocks State Park is 5 miles from the new astronomy village. They advertise how dark their skies are, and even have a roll-off-roof observatory where they hold astronomy programs for the public. Like to work on public outreach? This is a good place for it, and they are always looking for volunteers.

Cloudy Nights second thread

Tom and Jeannie Clark

Tom and Jeannie have been astronomers since 1983. They lived at the Chiefland Astronomy Village in Florida for 14 years before moving to the NMAV. Under the Tectron name Tom built a couple of hundred large Dobsonians, founded and published Amateur Astronomy Magazine from 1994-2007, and is the author of The Modern Dobsonian and Starry Starry Nights.

We moved to the NMAV in March of 2012 and have now lived here for a year. We are visual observers and own one of the larger amateur telescopes in the country. Come visit this observing wonderland and we will be happy to show you around.

Please email us to make arrangements for a visit.

This was Tom and Jeannie's Florida observatory. It held our 42" telescope from 2002 until early 2012 . The scope is now in New Mexico, and the mirror was refigured by Mike Lockwood while the new observatory was under construction. Come live next to a 42".

If you dare, imagine what the views will be like in a 42" Dobsonian, under these very dry and transparent skies. The new dome construction is under way, and we hope everything will be operational by the end of November 2012.

The New Mexico Astronomy Village is located on flat dry grasslands, and not near mountains that create bad seeing.

Join our NMAV Yahoo Chat Group, and you can read the latest about the village, and post any questions you may have.

Desert Life?

With sunrises and sunsets like this (during the rainy season in the summer) the views are inspiring.

Although our home is still under construction, we can imagine years ahead of enjoying the views from our back porch. We overlook thousands of acres of nothing but peace and solitude, yet town, with its stores, restaurants, and golf course are all 20 minutes down the road!

The only thing missing is more friendly neighbors to enjoy this life with. Come join us…

By the way, if you happen to like birds, this area is a paradise for birdwatching.

Sunrise over Cook's Peak 7/21/12

So far six astronomy families have purchased lots at the NMAV, and already two families are living here, with more moving in soon. More families are seriously trying to make arrangements so they can join us too! Come on out and take a look. Don't wait till all the best properties are gone!

Current Weather

Clear Sky Clock

The NMAV has been designated a Dark Sky Preserve and new lighting ordinances were added to the restrictive covenants in 2012.

Our first little star party 10/12.

Click Here to see construction photos of the new observatory for our 42" telescope.

We had first light at the new observatory on 4/5/13.

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9/2012 Our new neighbor Gary Starkweather took this sunset photo from their property from east of the Clark's new dome under construction.

Life living at the NMAV

I receive quite a few emails from astronomers asking about what life is like living here at the NMAV, so here what we have found after just two years…

History: We just purchased our property here in Oct of 2010, and so far five other astronomy families have purchased property here for their retirement, so obviously we are not the only ones who find that this area had just the right combination of the things we were looking for.

Location: We are 20 minutes from Deming, and 30 minutes from Silver City - the best of both worlds. We live out in the desert under very dark skies with good seeing, yet town and all the conveniences are 20 minutes away. There are many other astronomy places in the southwest where you are far from civilization, and have to live the life of a hermit. Can you imagine a 100 mile round trip to the grocery store? How about two hours or more each way to go to Home Depot? Forget about going out to eat, or playing golf, or having any kind of social life… Las Cruces is a fairly large town where you can find anything. It is just one hour away down the interstate.

Astronomy: This area is heaven compared to FL. No more underwater observing! The super transparent air allows you to see so much more, yet the seeing is very good since we live out on the grasslands. In most mountainous areas the seeing is very turbulent which seriously degrades viewing. We have observed here numerous times with both our 16" and 24" telescopes, and every time we have found the seeing to be excellent. We held a small star party in October of this year, with about 24 friends attending. Five telescopes were set up, including 24 and 30 inchers. Galaxies were bright and contrasty, globulars were full of tiny diamonds, and nebulae stood out from the background sky like in photographs. You have to experience the observing here to believe it. The sky seems to be clear or mostly clear every night. Even during the July-August rainy season many nights are observable. We recently finished our new observatory and have had first light on our 42" scope. I won't even try to describe what those views are like. You have to experience it yourself to understand why we moved here.

Social Life: Jeannie and I are not hermits. We have joined the Deming Country Club, where we play golf two days a week, and The Silver City Astronomy Club, where we have met many new friends, and attend functions now and then. News travels fast, so we have already met some local astronomers. I also joined the Silver City RC Flying Club, and their super flying site is only 15 minutes from our house. The Deming Camera Club also provides some fun, such as a trip to a Ghost town. If only there were more hours in the day.

Climate: We love it here! The average 20 percent humidity is wonderful, and the breezes keep even the warmest days comfortable. We find the summers here delightful compared to Florida, where we were forced to leave 6 months every year due to the oppressive heat and humidity. If you walked outside you immediately began sweating, and walking the golf course was out of the question. Here at 4800' it is cool every night, so during the summer months the house stays cool most of the day, and the airconditioning doesn't even come on until the afternoon. We do occasionally reach 100˚ in late afternoon, but even then sitting on the back porch in the breeze is very comfortable. As soon as the sun sets the temperature starts dropping, so there is no more of those Florida summer nights where it is too hot to observe in the dome. In the winter the average days are in the 50s and 60s, and nights in the 30s. When you are in the sun it feels great! I have walked the golf course at 45˚ in the morning in a sweater and felt wonderful. The dry air really does make the hot days feel cooler, and the cold days feel warmer. However, in December and January we had an unusual cold spell where the temperture ran an average of 20˚ below normal for 6 weeks. We still worked on the construction of the dome every day, but we simply waited until later in the day to get started. We are so much farther south (31˚) than most of the US that when we think it is cold most of the northerners wish they had our temperatures. The only bad thing to say about the area - which is true anywhere in the southwest, is sometimes it gets too windy and dusty. In 2012 we had three dust storms. They are not like the ugly things Phoenix gets, but they do run you inside for a few hours until they pass. March is the worst month for high winds…

Neighbors: We find the few neighbors who already lived here to be very friendly. They are all older people so the neighborhood is very quiet! Many local astronomers have come by to visit and check out the village. Some have purchased land and are awaiting retirement. Others are awaiting the sale of their houses back home so they can move out here. All who have come to see the place say that it is an astronomer's dream. It looks like the NMAV will be a success, and in the next few years we expect to have many more astronomers living here.

Homewise: We sold our FL home 2/12, and started our move west in March. The shop was moved in March, and while here we placed an order for a new modular home. While the house was being set up we made another trip back to FL to supervise the moving of our household goods, and were able to move into the new place in June. Of course it takes a bit of work to move and get things back in order, but as soon as we were able we started construction of our new observatory. The first light for the refigured and recoated 42" was 4/5/13.

If you want to chat about the NMAV, send an email with your phone number, and I'll give you a call.

Tom and Jeannie

Loving the desert life