NF/ Observatory Home Page

24" TelescopeA new scope(left) from U. of Arkansas at Little Rock has been refitted, to provide a new generation of automated observations for Education and Research. The telescope is a redesigned Group 128, 24" classical cassegrain, currently configured at F10. The camera has taken over 350,000 images with the ATIS(automatic telescope instruction set).'Click' to see what it takes to refit a scope like this.

The new facility is in collaboration with the faculty and students from the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville; The University of Arkansas, Little Rock, The Arkansas School for Mathematics and Science and the Arts, in Hot Springs, and Silver Schools, in Silver City, New Mexico.

24" Old Dome
The first generation automated scope was operational in 1991. The scope is at the NF/ Ranch has an automated 17.5 inch telescope housed in a movable dome(right). The telescope also used a ATIS file to make nightly observations. The observatory was linked to Silver City and the Internet, 30 miles away, with a digital radio link. This research observatory was also associated with Western New Mexico University in Silver City. EMAIL Bill at There is no provision for the Public to visit the Observatory.

Site Information

NFO Images : (256 color JPEG)

Funded in part by support from the NASA Arkansas Space Grant Consortium, Henderson State University, and the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. Also funded through grants from:
Grant Summary
and The Space Telescope Science Institute.

with past funding from:
Hubble Space Telescope, IDEAS Grant,
through a Small Grants Program, administered by the American Astronomical Society,
from the V.M. Slipher Fund of the National Academy of Science
and Freeport-McMoran Mining Co. Silver City, New Mexico.
We would also like to thank Western NM Telephone for the donation of microwave equipment,
and Texas-NM Power Company for support of Educational and Observatory Projects.


NF/ Observatory
Rt. 15 Box 760
San Lorenzo, NM 88041