Granite Gap, New Mexico, as seen from the air. The newly created circuit of roads winds around land that RV and park model owners will use to join the 24/7 star party under very dark skies. The lake is visible to the left. An existing central house will serve as a community and cultural center. The planetarium and mineral museum buildings will be built near the right-hand edge of the property. Gene Turner photo
I’ll be traveling with Assistant Editor Bill Andrews and Copy Editor Karri Ferron to give them their first experience under a truly breathtaking sky. Amateur astronomers will be on hand for an impromptu star party with Gene’s 30-inch Dobsonian reflector, and I have my observing list of more than 100 targets drawn up. (Oh, and there’s a pretty good comet to look at, too.) Although I’ll be on vacation, I’ll be reporting by blogs from the road, with Karri’s help.
Park model cabins, like these freshly arrived at Granite Gap, will soon house amateur astronomers eager for a dark-sky haven.There’s also lots of interest in the allied science of geology and mineralogy at Granite Gap. Gene Turner photo
Of course, planetary science involves analyzing rocks and minerals from other worlds, and Earth mineral specimens give us a pretty fair approximation of what these substances may be like on planets spread around the cosmos, too, as the rules of chemistry apply everywhere. In time, a planetarium and mineral museum will be built on site at Granite Gap and will attract many visitors, aside from the pristine and beautifully dark sky.
Daytime activities in the Chihuahuan Desert of the Old West vary considerably. There are hikes to Native American caves and cliffs where one can find petroglyphs and evidence of habitation more than 1,000 years ago. There are abandoned mines and ghost town communities that thrived in the strike-it-rich atmosphere of a century ago. There is spectacular Cave Creek Canyon, which offers a beautiful drive and rich area for birding enthusiasts. There is a trip up the mountain that Gene owns, where one finds the large domes of several telescopes used for professional research. There is Shakespeare, a ghost town complex on the edge of Lordsburg, where pristine buildings still have the original furniture from the late 19th century and where one can stand in the kitchen that Billy the Kid worked in as a teenager.
An aerial view shows Turner’s Rancho Hidalgo development near the center, which includes the Astronomy and Celestron observatories, Clyde Tombaugh’s telescope, and the accompanying farm below it to the right. Gene Turner photo
Relatively close by, but not on the agenda for this weekend, are a multitude of amazing places, including historic Bisbee and Tombstone, Arizona.
I’m sure the weekend will be replete with adventure. Keep checking back for daily updates, and I will report on this burgeoning community that is becoming a unique place in the world of amateur astronomy. You can also follow Karri’s updates on
Twitter and
Facebook.
For a full story of the development — which also houses the observatories of Astronomy magazine and the telescope manufacturer Celestron — see "A night at Granite Gap," as well as Granite Gap’s newly produced website, http://www.granitegap.com/.
And be sure to check out the Online Reader Gallery for more pictures from our trip.