These wide field views show the sparsely settled land. Only twelve properties settled out of 74 lots. Altitude is 4850'. Can you imagine observing with horizons like this and super transparent skies?
The tiny rest area has full-cut-off lighting. Except for two small lights on the side of the building, the whole rest area is non-obtrusive.
The Real Estate lady now working the site is Totsie Slover of Deming Realty. 575-494-0899
The all sky photo below shows the minor light domes from the site. Our house and workshop will block them from our view.
Photo by Bob Bryan 1/27/11
A star party at a local winery with the Silver City club/
A couple of the local residents
Vandy and Gary Starkweather visited in Sep and Oct, checking out the area. They purchased 17 acres and are going to build a retirement home and observatory. Gary is an avid imager and Vandy is getting a new 24" Starmaster for visual observing.
The dome will hold a 42" with a mirror refigured by Mike Lockwood. Can't wait to see the old scope under these wonderful skies!
Fog in the desert? It rained the night before. The Florida Mountains are five miles south of Deming - 25 miles from here.
Our neighbor Bob likes to run this rig in local parades. Taken from our front porch.
Oct 13. 2012
The NMAV held it's first little star partyi, in honor of Christina and Doug LeGrand's new 30" Star Master and 7" AstroPhysics refractor. The photo above shows Christina and Doug's reflection in the new 30" mirror.
The Silver City Astronomy Club was invited to attend, along with some neighbors and friends. Attendance was around 20 astronomers. The ladies all brought goodies to eat, and made coffee and cider. The shop served as a warm room and coffee shop.
Besides the new 30", pictured are Tom and Jeannie's 24, and Bob Carr brought a new 10" travel scope he just completed.
The weather was perfect, and the seeing excellent. The temperture was around 65 at sunset, and went to 47 by the time the last scope was packed up.
We hope this was the first of many star parties to be held here!
Gary and Vandy Starkweather's mobile observatory was set up for star party week.
Tom and Jeannie's place.
Surprise, surprise! A rare snowfall. It does snow here when winter storms are passing through. The snow usually lasts until sunrise. Then the sun warms things up and we head to the golf course anyway. Normal winter temperatures are 25-30 at night and 50-60s during the day. In the desert any moisture is appreciated.
2/13 A field trip to see the petroglyphs that are in the Pony Hills, just south of Cook's Peak. They are just a few miles from the NMAV. The old Butterfield Trail runs through the valley below.
4/6 We just left the neighborhood to go to the City of Rocks with Mike Lockwood and Bob Noneman when we saw this small herd of 10 Pronghorns right along Rt/ 180.
