iOPTRON - Astronomy Technology Today

NEW MEXICO SKIES ASTRONOMY ENCLAVE
home, with their discordant scatterings of detritus
and spoils, astronomical observatories reveal
the reverence with which their owners
approach their favorite activity and, indeed, life.
The view from the Astronomy Enclave left the
impression of nature in harmony with man’s
purpose as too few spots have during my travels.
The view within the Enclave did as well.
That said, the Astronomy Enclave’s layout
was carefully planned to maximize views of nature
and minimize views of others’ man-made
structures. From the various existing and future
home sites we visited there, we rarely saw the
homes next door. Every lot conveyed a feeling
of privacy and comfortable seclusion.
The Climate
I’ve already mentioned that Cloudcroft’s
summer highs can feel blessedly low compared
to other parts of the country. The month with
the highest average high temperature is June at
73.5°F, with an average low of 44.2°F. The
coldest month is January with an average high
of 41.6°F and low of 18.5°F, but those were
measured at 8600 feet.Temperatures at the Astronomy
Enclave are higher on average, although
not dramatically so. June there sees an
average high of 82° and low of 48°F, while January’s
average range is from 53° to 21°F.
The Astronomy Enclave lies to the east of
the ridge of the Sacramento Mountain Range,
which serves to wring much of the moisture
from air that flows to the area from the northwest,
well before it reaches the Astronomy Enclave.
Indeed, the predominant winds of the
area are from the west-northwest. While annual
precipitation is only 30 inches in Cloudcroft,
it is just 20 inches at the Astronomy Enclave.
The Astronomy Enclave has a unique microclimate
that is superior to that of the surrounding
areas.
The Community
Until last November, I’d known Tom and
Marla Simstad only as folks I met regularly at
astronomy events such as NEAF. I knew nothing
of their backgrounds. As we visited in their
home, Tom explained that they did not move
to the Cloudcroft/Mayhill area to build an astronomical
community, but they were inspired
to build the Astronomy Enclave once already
there. Having visited their home and gotten to
know them better, I now understand the significance
of that distinction.
In their previous lives they had, as a team,
worked as builders, developing more than 700
properties in Indiana. Tom was educated in
building construction, surveying and civil engineering
while at Purdue University, but it’s
the couple’s extensive practical experience that
I know to value most, and the lessons of that
shared experience are evident in every aspect of
the Astronomy Enclave.
For a development of such dramatic elevation
changes, the private road that serves its
interior is surprisingly wide and meticulously
maintained. While most residents own a fourwheel-drive
vehicle of some description, we
drove our ground clearance-deprived Buick
sedan over every inch of that interior road without
incident, and Marla travels it regularly in a
little car that is slung even lower.
All intra-Astronomy Enclave utilities (a
community-wide water system, electric, phone
and Internet) are buried and those few fixtures
that must be maintained above ground for ease
of access are discretely located and, in most
cases, are shielded by native vegetation as well.
The gated subdivision I live in back home
boasts a club house, swimming pool and tennis
courts. The gated Astronomy Enclave invested
instead in a 1500-square foot machinist, metalfabrication
and woodworking shop, together
with a 2280-square foot community center
that offers services such as high-resolution
wide-bed printers as well as the more typical
work-out facility, pool table, arts-and-crafts
areas and the like. And because astronomy is
becoming an increasingly online activity, the
Astronomy Enclave even exceeds my home
community in the Internet bandwidth available
to its residents.
The formal covenants of the Astronomy
Enclave are, as you would expect of such a purpose-built
community, both comprehensive
and specific to the unique concerns of astronomers.
The restrictions are certain as to
those factors that are critical to any astronomer
contemplating a life-changing investment, yet
flexible enough as to others to pacify the most
dedicated libertarians among us.
“Who You Gonna Call?”
Among the things you can expect from a
community and region largely populated by expert
astronomers is … well … ready access to
lots of expert astronomers. With them comes
the host of services required to support those
astronomers, not that you’d have to leave the
Astronomy Enclave for most of those, given its
fully equipped shop and resident, experienced
machinists and fabricators.
When it comes to major projects, such as
observatory construction, we toured the most
recent roll-off observatory designed and constructed
byTom and his team, and it is, simply
put, the most perfectly functioning and functional
roll-off I’ve seen. I could spend a day in
it just rolling the roof back and forth without
ever getting bored.
Tom and crew have also become particularly
adept at mechanizing and automating the
popular Explora Dome Observatories, although
their expertise extends to many other
brands and designs as well. That’s not to say
that residents of the Astronomy Enclave are
limited to the choice ofTom’s professional serv-
Astronomy TECHNOLOGY TODAY 69