Apache Point Observatory & Sunspot Solar Observatory tour
Monday, October 21, 2019 - 8AM-6PM
Group will be transported by luxury bus to the Apache Point and Sunspot Solar Observatory.
Advance registration required for this tour!
The field trip price includes round trip transportation for the 2-hour drive from Las Cruces to Sunspot, NM on a luxury bus, private tours of both observatories and a box lunch at the Sunspot Solar Observatory. The bus will pick up and drop off participants at the meeting hotel. To participate in the private tours at APO and Sacramento Peak you must register and travel with our group on the bus as the tour group lists for each location are being planned by the AAVSO and neither location will allow walk-ins on that day. If you would like to participate please complete the designated section on the meeting registration form.
Apache Point Observatory is home to world class research, through the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, currently finishing up the 4th survey of the Milky Way Galaxy and all the way the edge of the universe. The ARC 3.5m telescope hosts the APOLLO experiment, a lunar laser-ranging experiment that helps with special relativity studies with the Moon. The work horse telescope, the 3.5m facilitates a range of research from atmospheric studies of Venus, characterization of other worlds (i.e. exoplanets discovered from a variety of space missions), the stellar “ringing” or oscillations of stars, to the probing of edges of the Milky Way and beyond.
The vista from APO is spectacular - the Organ Mountains provide a backdrop to the Tularosa Basin, where the White Sands National Monument is visible. During October, the Sacramento Mountains will be displaying their autumnal colors through the golden aspen tree groves among the dark green conifers of the region. Lucky visitors may see some mountain wildlife, such as elk, deer, and turkeys.
Be aware that APO is located at 2700 meters/9000 feet. If you are sensitive to high altitude, then you need to be prepared.
Tour will include the ARC 3.5m telescope, plug plate lab and SDSS 2.5m
Sunspot Solar Observatory Tour
Managed by NSO for nearly half a century, from 1975-2017, this location, high above Alamogordo, NM, has been known for its excellent daytime sky quality, both in terms of transparency and seeing.
The Richard B. Dunn Solar Telescope (DST) was once the finest instrument of its kind in the world. Its 0.2 arc-seconds resolution unveiled a multitude of secrets surrounding the complex magnetic fields that dominate the solar atmosphere.
Guests will be led on a 1/2 mile loop around the Sunspot Solar Observatory property. Visitors will have a chance to visit the Richard B. Dunn Solar Telescope, the only actively used telescope. Tour guides will share what makes the Richard B. Dunn Solar Telescope unique and why it is still considered, to date, one of the top solar telescopes in the world.
Sunspot Solar Observatory Consortium now runs the Sunspot Visitors Center and Dunn Solar Telescope, in collaboration with NSO. The Dunn Solar Telescope a one-of-a-kind solar telescope that produces some of the sharpest images of the Sun available in the world.