EARTHRISE

DARK-SKY SITE
The site for the Earthrise dark-sky site is located in southern New Mexico -- a region renowned for its astronomical and space activity -- some 17 miles (27 km) east of Cloudcroft, in an area known as 16 Springs Canyon. It is within the boundaries of the Lincoln National Forest, at an elevation of 7300 feet (2200 meters). It features an open meadow environment that is ideal for astronomical observations, although a portion of the site is forested, providing an aesthetic mountain environment. The northern boundary of the Earthrise site is within 100 meters of the site from which Comet Hale-Bopp was discovered in July 1995.

We are looking for a donor to help us name this site.
AREA MAP
DAYTIME PHOTOS
LEFT: View from southeast corner of Earthrise site, looking east-northeast. RIGHT: View from approximately two miles to the southeast. The Earthrise site is near the center of the black rectangle.
NIGHTTIME PHOTOS
These two photographs of Comet Ikeya-Zhang taken in early 2002 from the Earthrise site illustrate the dark skies that are prevalent there. LEFT: March 9, 2002, evening sky, looking west. The zodiacal light stands out plainly to the left of the comet. RIGHT: April 13, 2002, morning sky, looking northeast. The constellation of Cassiopeia is visible below and to the left of the comet.
SATELLITE VIEW
This is a QuickBird satellite image of the Earthrise site from DigitalGlobe. The white rectangle is the property we currently have for Earthrise; the dashed rectangle is property that we eventually seek to add to it. East is up, north is to the left.
SITE PLAN
The below diagram is an extremely tentative site plan for the dark-sky site; we expect that there will be significant modifications to it before we begin actual development. One of the telescopes will be the telescope dedicated to the PlanetQuest project. North is to the left, to match the orientation of the above satellite image.
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