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January 2007 Construction is now complete on the J. Milburn Smith Memorial Observatory. This observatory facility is dedicated in honor of J. Milburn Smith, late husband of Mary Ann Smith. It is located in the beautiful Sacramento Mountains of Southern New Mexico at 7,200 feet elevation. The observatory facility consists of a Control Room, 16.5 ft. ASH dome elevated 23 feet above grade level.
Test operations of this observatory began February 2007 using a TMB152 and FSQ APO telescopes with a Paramount ME mount. Later in 2007, it will host a fork mounted 24" f8 RC telescope. The entire observatory is robotic and is remotely controlled via the Internet. Communications from the Control Room to the Dome Room computer are via fiber optics. Observatory operations are primarily intended for CCD imaging of deep space objects. Security for this observatory is monitored 24/7 with site sensors and cameras. |
