A picture of the three clamshell domes

New Mexico Skies currently has six separate permanent observatories, as pictured at the top of the page, plus an assortment of telescopes along with many accessories such as CCD cameras and various guiders.
A picture of one of our clamshell domes partially openA picture of one of our clamshell domes completely open
The first three of our observatories are housed in individual 12' clamshell domes by Astro Haven. These Astro Haven domes have two major advantages over other types of observatory domes:

(1) They are roomy and comfortable for 3-4 people. They can be partially opened to provide wind shielding, but even fully opened, the 4' high walls provide wind insulation.

(2) Thermal equilibrium is reached rapidly with a fully open dome. The "open to the full sky" concept the clamshell shares with a roll-off roof eliminates the seeing-destroying thermal currents often associated with slotted/rotating domes. And, unlike a roll-off, the sky is not obscured by the parked roof.

A picture of Dome 4 with its slot partially openA picture of Dome 4 with its slot completely open
The Dome 4 observatory is housed in a 10' rotating Pro-Dome by Technical Innovations, which is very effective in its own right. For observing in high winds, the slotted Pro-Dome is certainly the best choice.


A picture showing the solid mounting our telescopes have All of the observatories at New Mexico Skies have permanent telescopes mounted on concrete/steel piers that are solidly attached to bedrock and isolated from the observatory floor. The concrete/steel pier assemblies are truly massive, weighing in at 2-3 tons, and are pinned and bonded directly to bedrock. The steel piers are tuned with sand to be non-resonant. 120-volt ground fault protected power outlets are provided at every pier.

A picture of the Dome 1 telescope Dome 1 houses a 14" Celestron SCT on a Bisque Paramount GT-1100ME. This telescope is used exclusively for CCD imaging with an Apogee AP6E camera equipped with a color filter wheel. The Apogee camera features 24 micron pixels in a 1024 x 1024 array and provides a field of view of 21 x 21 arc minutes. The telescope can be controlled from the dome or from the remote imaging center in the library. Dome 1 includes a guidescope and an SBIG STV auto guider. Dome 1 includes a 3 nm Hydrogen Alpha filter as well.

A picture of the Dome 2 telescope Dome 2 contains a Meade 16" LX200 computer-controlled telescope, custom modified with a Software Bisque MKS 3000 telescope control system for superior pointing and tracking. This telescope, like the one in Dome 1, is controlled using Software Bisque's TheSky software and T-Point. The 16" is dedicated to CCD imaging using an Apogee AP7 camera with a back illuminated imaging chip, 24 micron pixels and a field of view after focal reduction of 17 x 17 arc minutes. Dome 2 is equipped with a semi-APO guidescope and an SBIG STV. Dome 2 may also be optionally controlled from the remote imaging lab.

A picture of the Dome 3 telescope Dome 3 contains an unparalleled .51 meter (20") at f/6.0 RCOS Ritchey-Chretien truss tube telescope mounted on a Bisque Paramount ME. The camera is an SBIG ST-10XME, 2184 x 1472 pixels, each 6.8 microns square. The telescope is equipped with a Precision Instrument Rotator and an SBIG AO-7 Adaptive optics device. The field of view is 11 x 17 arc-minutes. This telescope is dedicated to advanced CCD imaging and is only available to experienced imagers.


A picture of the Dome 4 telescope Dome 4 has a fabulous Takahashi FCT-150 triplet flourite Apochromatic refractor (formally owned by Rob Gendler and Ron Wodaski). It is used at f/7.0 with an SBIG ST-10XME CCD camera. Dome 4 is equipped with a Borg ED guidescope with an SBIG STV.

Between Dome 4 and Pad 6 is an equatorially mounted 12" Meade SCT LX200 (a smaller version of the 16" Meade in Dome 2). The 12" is a full-featured LX200 with 65,000 object libary, 8 pointing speeds, and 1 arc-minute high precision pointing. The forte of this telescope is its instant "GOTO" operation. This makes visual observing effortless and great fun; ideal for the beginner as well as more advanced astronomers.

A picture of one of the pads with a Dob set up on it Pads 5 and 6 are the homes for our BIG Dobs: a 30" f/5.0 Tectron, a 25" f/4.0 Galaxy Mirror/ AstroSystems Telekit and a 15" f/4.0 AstroSystems Telekit. Each of our big Dobsonians is equipped with a Telrad and Sky Commander digital setting circles. The Sky Commanders make finding faint fuzzies extremely easy, and we'll teach you how to use them as part of your telescope checkout.

A picture of one of our CCD Cameras

CCD Cameras:

We have an assortment of CCD cameras and guiders by Santa Barbara Instrument Group (SBIG) and Apogee. We have the SBIG ST-10XME, ST-1001E and STV and the Apogee AP6E and AP-7 cameras.
 A picture showcasing some of our eyepieces

Eyepieces:

We encourage you to bring your favorite eyepieces on your New Mexico Skies adventure. We do have a good assortment of Tele Vue Naglers, Panoptics and Plossls. We also have a few specialized eyepieces like the Vixen Lanthanum long eye relief ones for those who must view through glasses. We will provide you an assortment of eyepieces with your telescope rental.
 A picture of our binoculars

Binoculars:

Our skies are great for binocular viewing. Bring your own, or, for an unforgettable experience, rent our pier mounted super innovative JMI 6" Reverse Binoculars. These giant binos are two 6" telescopes—the equivalent of a 10" telescope but with full 3D binocular effect. These giant binoculars are equipped with digital setting circles to make finding those faint deep space objects so easy.

A picture of the control center inside one of our imaging domes One of our specialities at New Mexico Skies is helping you learn the art of CCD imaging.

Whether you are a beginner or advanced amateur, we can help you get the best images. Our CCD imaging equipment in Domes 1, 2, 3, and 4 can be controlled from our state-of-the-art Remote Imaging Lab or from within the domes. Your CCD images will be delivered to you on CD-ROM with special viewing software, when you depart.