Welcome to Apache Point Observatory
The observatory consists of The Astrophysical
Research Consortium's 3.5-meter telescope, the Sloan Digital Sky
Survey 2.5-m telescope with a 20" photometric telescope, and New
Mexico State University's 1.0-m telescope. Access to the telescopes
and buildings is restricted but the public is welcome to stroll the
grounds.
Directions
Located in the Sacramento Mountains in the Lincoln
National Forest, APO is 18 miles south of Cloudcroft, NM.
From El Paso, TX take highway 54 north to highway
82 in Alamogordo. From Las Cruces, take highway 70/82 east to
Alamogordo. There, take highway 82 east to Cloudcroft. In Cloudcroft,
turn right onto highway 130 and follow 130 to highway 6563 (toward
Sunspot). Turn right onto 6563. After approximately 16 miles, turn
left at the marked spur just before the entrance to the National
Solar Observatory.
Directions to Apache Point Observatory
The 3.5-meter Telescope is used with
spectrographs and imaging devices to make observations at optical and
infrared wavelengths. It is a general purpose telescope for studies
of all kinds of astronomical objects, from relatively nearby planets
of our own solar system to the most distant galaxies.
Gamma Ray Burst December 1997; Seaver Proto-type Imaging
Camera
The construction of this telescope incorporates
many innovations which allow it to take full advantage of the dark
and transparent sky at Apache Point.
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- Compact and lightweight design:
The primary mirror is fabricated using a new spin-casting
technology which results in a hollow mirror weighing only 1/5th as
much as its solid glass equivalent. This, together with its deeply
curved surface, results in a very compact telescope needing only
lightweight support structures. Consequently, the telescope can be
moved quickly to any point on the sky and then acquire and track
any object to very high precision. The telescope has even been
used to track missiles.
- Thermal control: The observatory
site was selected in part because of its airflow patterns which
result in minimal blurring of images due to atmospheric turbulence
and temperature differences. This good "seeing" is further
protected by drawing temperature-controlled air through the
telescope structure and the interior of the primary mirror. Vents
and exhausts, plus various forms of thermal insulation, further
control temperatures of the telescope and its surroundings.
- Multiple instruments: Several
spectrographs and imaging devices are permanently mounted on the
telescope; others are maintained in a "ready" state and can be
attached in minutes. Light is directed to any instrument by simply
rotating the telescope's flat tertiary mirror. This feature allows
the telescope to quickly respond to different scientific
requirements, changing observing conditions, or unexpected
celestial events such as supernovae.
- Remote observing: Most
observations are conducted remotely, with the astronomer located
at some distant university and operating the telescope by computer
commands transmitted over the Internet. The telescope has been
operated in this way from many countries, from the South Pole,
from aircraft,and through satellite links.
This, together with the ease of instrument
changes, allows several astronomers to be scheduled on the telescope
each night for different scientific programs. In rapid response to
new discoveries, APO astronomers can drop-in to take short
"quick-look" observations or execute long-term surveys.
Spiral Galaxy NGC 5371; Seaver Proto-type Imaging
Camera
The 2.5-meter Telescope incorporates many of
the design ideas successfully pioneered on the 3.5-meter telescope.
The 2.5-meter also incorporates many innovations of its own, such as
a unique movable baffle system which shields the optical components
from wind, and the camera and spectrographs from stray light. This
telescope is used to conduct the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, a
three-dimensional survey of a large part of our universe. It will use
two instruments for this mapping project:
- The imaging camera consists of
an array of CCD detectors covered by colored filters which isolate
different wavelength bands. As the sky is allowed to drift across
the telescope's large field of view, the positions, shapes, and
colors in five wavelength bands are recorded. Nearly 100 million
galaxies, a million quasars, and a like number of stars will be
measured in this way.
- The dual spectrographs use
prisms to separate by wavelength the light of stars, galaxies, and
quasars. This spectrum contains information about their
composition, temperature, and motion. Redshifts due to the
expansion of our universe provide distance
information.
Spectra of over 600 objects can be acquired at the
same time using a system of optical fibers connected to the
telescope's focal plane and the spectrographs. Nearly 1,000,000
galaxies, 100,000 quasars, and a similar number of stars will be
spectroscopically examined in this survey.
Emission Line Spectrum in a Redshift 5.0 Quasar: Ly is the
Ultraviolet Line of Hydrogen Shifted to Red Wavelength; Dual Imaging
Spectrograph
The 20" Photometric Telescope is used during
Survey observations to continuously monitor the brightness of the
sky, transparency of the Earth's atmosphere, and provide calibration
for the 2.5-meter telescope observations.
The One-Meter Telescope is operated by New
Mexico State University for research and graduate instruction.
Utilizing many of the successful design innovations of the 3.5-meter
telescope, this telescope is optimized for studying extended objects
such as nebulae, galaxies, star clusters, and clusters of galaxies.
Fully computer-controlled, it can be operated from its control room
at Apache Point or from the New Mexico State campus.
Who Are We? APO is privately owned and
supported by the Astrophysical Research Consortium, whose mission is
to operate the observatory to further astronomical research by the
scientists and students of its member institutions. Those
institutions are the Institute for Advanced Study, University of
Chicago, University of Colorado-Boulder, Johns Hopkins University,
New Mexico State University, Princeton University, University of Virginia, and
the University
of
Washington. NMSU operates the observatory site for the
Consortium.
Archive Server
