Stargazing in New Mexico

Southern Living, Mar 2002 by Rada, Joe

adventure

Equipped with powerful telescopes, this guest observatory and inn offers all-night adventures aimed at the stars.

We look forward to darkness with fidgety impatience. A mixture of academic fervor and mischievous glee charges the atmosphere. Conversations that would seem odd under other conditions focus on the area's blessed lack of streetlights, the crystal quality of the mountain air, and questions about which galaxies shine brightest in the firmament this time of year.

Something about the soft, red-tinted, easy-on-the-eyes lightbulbs everywhere-- glowing in lodge rooms, beaming from small flashlights, even pouring from opened refrigerators--casts an otherworldly aura.

That's appropriate, because other worlds are a constant topic among the adventurous, up-all-night, star-crazed owners as well as the patrons of New Mexico Skies Guest Observatory in the Sacramento Mountains northeast of El Paso, Texas.

"We chose this area because it has the least amount of manmade light in the country and some of the lowest levels of airborne dust particles anywhere," says Mike Rice, who with his wife, Lynn, turned their astronomy hobby into a lifestyle. "The viewing here is incredible, with dark, transparent skies right down to the horizon."

People come to New Mexico Skies for one purpose: to gaze at stars through an astonishing collection of powerful telescopes. Most nap by day in comfortably modern log duplexes and save waking hours for the allnighters. The ubiquitous red lights, like those in film developing labs, spare sensitive retinas and leave pupils widely dilated.

Around sundown, everyone gathers in the main lodge's dimly lit library to mingle over strong coffee. We study sky charts, astronomy books, and magazines amid walls displaying celestial poster art and photography. A computer shows the evening's sky in pointillist patterns of white dots on a black field. The clock is set on Greenwich Mean Time, as are all astronomers' clocks.

When the last embers of daylight fade below a tree line of pines, we follow Mike and Lynn to a cleared ridge where a row of clamshell-shaped mini-observatories bristle with telescopic equipment. Separating into small groups able to squeeze into the 12-feet-across, hinged-- open half spheres, we take turns adjusting eyepieces and marveling at heavenly bodies.

Saturn's rings appear as plain as a corporate logo on a shirt pocket, and we count four of Jupiter's moons. We find the Orion Nebula, a vast ocean of space gas birthing stars. The dramatic cluster labeled M-51 on charts-but more descriptively known as the Whirlpool Galaxy-- spins in an awesome double swirl of countless stars. We focus on Earth's moon, too, peering into shadow-- accented craters that seem so close we feel like Apollo astronauts in orbit around it.

Mike and Lynn prove splendid hosts, devoted to science and attentive to guests. Before settling on New Mexico and their stargazing inn, the couple worked as university administrators, pilots, print shop owners, and recording studio operators. Now they engage in endless conversation about space. "A star is a perfect point of light," Mike expounds. "It might be a little fuzzy going through atmosphere and lenses, but once you get it in focus it's a beautiful sight."

Lynn adds, "We built this place to provide amateur astronomers with memorable experiences of the night skies and because we love to stare at the sky too."

JOE RADA

For more information

New Mexico Skies Guest Observatory: PO. Box 559, Cloudcroft, NM 88317; (505) 687-2429 or www.nmskies.com. Rates: $130-$190 a night ($40 less during full-moon weeks, when moonlight hampers stargazing) for a one-, two-, or three-- bedroom unit with kitchen, bath, living room, and deck. Telescope rentals: Reserve various telescopes for $40-$100 a night (slightly less during full-moon weeks). Location: 16 miles east of Cloudcroft in Southeastern New Mexico, 100 miles from El Paso via U.S. 54 north to Alamogordo, then U.S. 82 east. Courtesy tip: Wait until after noon Mountain Time to call-the late-sleeping innkeepers will really appreciate it.