Apache Point Observatory, located in the Sacramento Mountains of Southern New Mexico near the communities of Alamogordo and Cloudcroft, sits at an elevation of 9200 feet above sea level. It is owned by the Astrophysical Research Consortium (ARC), a nonprofit educational and research corporation comprised of nine institutional partners: University of Washington, New Mexico State University, University of Virginia, University of Colorado, Johns Hopkins University, University of Oklahoma, Georgia State University, University of Wyoming, and Brigham Young University.
The observatory houses four astronomical telescopes and a variety of scientific instruments: the ARC 3.5 meter, a general-purpose research telescope offering a mix of imaging and spectroscopic capabilities; the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) 2.5 meter, a wide field survey telescope with robotic fiber optic positioners; the ARC Small Aperture Telescope (ARCSAT) 0.5 meter, a training platform and research aid for bright targets; and the New Mexico State University 1.0 meter, a telescope within the Stellar Oscillation Network Global (SONG) network with a fiber-fed spectrograph.
These facilities provide a diverse collection of capabilities for astronomical research related to our solar system, Milky Way galaxy and beyond.