In January 2005, along with three friends I visited "New Mexico Skies" (http://www.nmskies.com/) in Cloudcroft, N.M. (near White Sands in the southeast corner of the state) and "Star Hill Inn"  (http://www.starhillinn.com/StarHillInn.html) located ~two hours north of Albuquerque.  See the images located at the bottom of my image page:  Photo Gallery

Here is a thumbnail sketch of the two:

New Mexico Skies could be called an observatory that happens to offer basic accommodations as well.  Astronomy is the focus of one's stay and even the local attractions (Sloan Sky Survey observatory at Apache Point, Sunspot national solar observatory, White Sands test range) tend to be scientific.  New Mexico Skies is run like a business-- if the proprietors set up a scope on your behalf (it's your call), you've rented it for the evening even if the weather turns cloudy.  On the other hand, you don't pay unless they set up. Each pad is separated from its' neighbors, and the warming room in several hundred yards away to avoid any thermal plumes.  There are three largish Dobs (including a 30" f/5 and a 25" f/4) for visual use, a half dozen domes featuring premium refractors and SCT's for imaging, and the warming room features a network of workstations with image processing software and high speed Internet access.  The imaging scopes all come with imaging gear installed-- and in fact, you may be prohibited from removing it to use your own-- and a decent assortment of basic eyepieces (few Naglers) accompanies the visual scopes.  If you are planning on visual observing, do the calculations as to which eyepieces work best with the scope you will be renting, and be prepared to bring your own eyepieces and filters. (For instance, the 30" f/5 came with a Televue Plossl 55mm eyepiece as its low power optic-- even though this yields a staggering 11mm exit pupil which wastes most of the light from this huge scope.)  On balance, "New Mexico Skies" is the better choice of the two for serious observers.

Star Hill Inn is a New Age-style lodge that happens to have some nice telescopes on site as well.  There are lots of attractions nearby ranging from Santa Fe to the artists' colony of Taos, Indian pueblos, and picturesque Cavalry forts.    At Star Hill, a scope comes bundled into the room rate, except for the dome mounted  Ritchey-Chretien 24 (which was once the highest altitude observatory in North America).  You are free to use any “abandoned” scope once its users have gone to bed, and the proprietor seemed happy to set up extra instruments.  (They have a good assortment of Dobs, SCT's, and binoculars.)  All of the scopes are on a communal pad, and the warming hut is a convenient few yards away.  There are a surprising number of good eyepieces available (including the heavy, expensive, low power Naglers).  Collimation of the 24" RC was mediocre-- at my request the proprietor removed the focal reducer, but the images were still soft.  The Dobs and SCT's seemed fine.  Internet access was from a single PC with no image processing software and a dial-up modem connection.   The horizon shows more obstruction from the nearby hills than N.M. Skies, and more local light pollution-- though even N.M. Skies has some naked bulbs in line of sight in the distance.  On balance, "Star Hill Inn" is the better choice of the two for an observer traveling with family or a non-observing spouse.

Costs were comparable- $100 each per night per person for a party, somewhat higher for solo.  (A solo traveler would find it cheaper to stay at Star Hill Inn.)  

To paraphrase the Visa television commercial,

Observing highlights included:
--seeing the Veil Nebula as well unfiltered as it looks through my 16” Dob with an OIII filter from our skies,
--watching Comet Machholz approach maximum brightness --and the Pleiades-- and recede, under extremely dark skies,
--finding Stephan's Quintet,
--seeing as many as nine galaxies in a single FOV in Virgo,
--seeing the red hues in the Orion Nebula (M42) for the first time (I usually can only see greens),
--and finding the Horsehead Nebula for the first time and without an OIII filter. 

Partial Observing Notes from trip to New Mexico Skies guest observatory/B&B, January 2005

When we booked this in the fall of 2004, we did not know that Comet Makholz would be at its absolute peak during this trip!

1/07/05 “New Mexico Skies”, Cloudcroft New Mexico.

Using 25” Astrosystems f/4 Dobsonian with Sky Commander DSC’s.

Nagler 31mm eyepiece used. Detailed observing notes taken but misplaced; believe bulk of objects seen through other scopes on later nights. Had asked for 30” Dob, but request made too late to accommodate. Found the collimation of scope poor (couldn’t see “E” or “F” in Trapezium despites sub-arc second seeing). NM Skies said we should have told them and they would have tweaked it. Phase 4 focuser was very worn-- Used binoviewers unless otherwise noted

1/08/05 “New Mexico Skies”, Cloudcroft New Mexico.

Using 30” Tectron f/5 Dobsonian with Sky Commander DSC’s.

Nagler 31mm eyepiece used unless otherwise noted

Skies clear, winds variable, ranging from calm to more typically 10-15 mph. Gusts as high as 49 mph (!!) made using the scope a three man job and very problematic during gusts. Worked fastest when I looked first, recorded my observations, and pre-loaded next target into DSC while Ken and Jeff looked through eyepiece.

M31: had dust lanes/Hydrogen Alpha regions running full length of galaxy on opposite side from M33

M33: 2-3 companion galaxies visible to left. Dust lanes visible

M110: looked like M31 usually looks through 16” Dob from Washington area!!

NCG (hereafter, N) 891: Edge On Galaxy in Andromedia: great, w/dust lanes visible

N457 Owl Cluster: mediocre

N243: Skull Nebula -- couldn’t see it this night, or any other

M42: saw E star in Trapezium consistently, and F intermittently-- a first for my Nagler 31! Too windy to try for G. Saw nebulosity ~½ FOV farther out than usual with Frankenscope. Nebulousity very complex with typical green hue. Also saw significant region of red to right of Trapezium, and small fringe of red on nebulousity close to Trap. On left side

N2024 Flame Nebula very impressive, like a sideways glove or hand

N2194 Bug Eye O.C. not very impressive

Found Horsehead Nebula with OIII filter by dead reckoning from Zeta Orion. Faint and unimpressive. Only object that benefited from the OIII filter I borrowed from NM Skies.

M97 Owl Nebula not impressive when low in sky, but when observed again later was much more striking, with mottled structure.

M108: elliptical galaxy, well defined structure

M106: nice spiral definition visible, with companion at 5:00 2 dia. Away.

M51; very impressive!!! Averted vision clearly showed full extent of spiral arms and dust lanes, (1 1/3 wrap) , as well as bridge to M51. Looked lke a photo or digital image!

M63: decent for an object described as “smudge in small scopes”

M94: good

M81: much larger than through Frankenscope, with fingers visible to some in our party.

M82: nice structure and dust lanes

M65:

M66: these two looked more elliptical than usual

M95: formed a close triplet with N3384 and 3389 (one elliptical), rather than the two Messier companions I am used to seeing (and which in turn formed a separate triplet with an NGC), due to greater light grasp (~2 Mag or 5X) and 50% smaller FOV than Frankenscope.

M44: Beehive Cluster too large for most to fit into FOV

Comet Merkhaz: just above M45 (Ple.) Had visible tail and side lobes/shock waves 2 FOV wide and 1 FOV deep. No structure visible in comet head, just diffuse light

M3: great!

M59: tiny GC

M104: Sombrero Galaxy was sweet, with pronounced dust lanes

N1500: a PN that looked a bit like a smaller M57 without a central hole

N1501: party of Kemble’ Crescent. An OC with a number of colorful stars and close doubles

Tried Porrima/Gamma Virginis, but conditions too windy

The NM Skies sensor showed seeing averaging 0.5 arc seconds for much of the evening!!!

Tried 31 objects from ~2034 CST to 0230.

DSC’s held accuracy perfectly all evening-- starting ALT and AZ errors were 0.1 degree, and this held true all evening. Scope also held collimation well at varying angles of elevation. The Tectron is an early 1990’s Dob (pre-Kriige/ design, with tall mirror box, crimped truss tubes, and no mounting ring for secondary cage), but was a fantastic performer nonetheless. “An old classic”.

1/09/05: overcast-- our only weather-precluded night of the seven on our trip. (The statistical likelihood of good weather on any given January night was ~33%, so we were very lucky!)

1/10/05 “New Mexico Skies”, Cloudcroft New Mexico.

Using 30” Tectron f/5 Dobsonian with Sky Commander DSC’s.

Nagler 31mm eyepiece used unless otherwise noted

Very windy while waiting for Rices to set up . At 1840 during astronomical twilight I counted 12 stars in square of Pegasus, and 11 stars in M45. Rices say that one guest has estimated LM at 7.7, which I found way too high. (I was under whelmed by “dark skies” during trip, possibly due to local light pollution on Rices’ ridge and cloudy conditions. Never approached point where would have been difficult to distinguish ground from sky. Sky was always grayish.) I estimate LM at better than 6.5 (I couldn’t use my typical methodology due to lack of scope side laptop computer).

Say Eastern and Western Veil Nebula unfiltered better than through Frankenscope with OIII filter!!!!

Couldn’t see NGC7000/North American Nebula filtered or unfiltered, though

Blue Snowball

Blinking Planetary Nebula

Couldn’t see Crescent Nebula

N7814 was surprisingly faint

N7479 was a good regular barred spiral

N281

N404

M31: like previous night of viewing, but believe what we thought were two large dust lanes are H-a instead

M33

M110

M42: E and F in Trapezium hard to see tonight; is seeing not as good or is collimation off (hasn’t been set since initial setup two days prior). Found Horsehead Nebula without OIII filter by dead reckoning from Zeta Orion. Is on opposite side of star from Flame Neb. Tracing along the visible nebulosity, it showed as an amorphous dark region, vaguely hooking to left like inverted Horsehead should do. Succeeded in showing to all of our party and Mark Hansen. After I succeeded in this, the Rice’s suggested that Stephan’s Quintet would be easy, and that Einstein’s Cross would be possible (someone had succeeded in bagging it in ‘04 with this 30” Dob). Unfortunately both are in Pegasus and hence fading below horizon by this time (~2330).

M78

M79

M76: saw pronounced side wings on “the Little Dumbbell” which accounts for its alternate moniker of “Butterfly Nebula”

N7789: OC with dark lanes that looked like snakes or someone using the “erase” function of Photoshop. Nice!

N772

N891 again. Like the Edge On Galaxy in Andromeda so well that could easily spend prolonged period sketching it.

N1023 elliptical galaxy in rich star field

N1055: elliptical with foreground dust obscuring some structure

N1245: rich OC with lanes

N672-- saw with a companion we identified (via Sky Commander) as IC1727

N752: I saw three ~14M companion galaxies in FOV alongside it!!

N6205 “The Wall” was faint and complex

N1435 Merope Nebula showed faint red hue and diffuse structure

N2537 BearPaw Galaxy: very god elliptical with nearby OC

N3745 “Copeland’s Septet”-- very faint. Required going almost to zenith, which was a real stretch on this scope.

(I ran out of time to put the rest of my observing notes on line.  Too many projects, too little time!)