An effort is underway to replace one of the most well-used facilities on the north campus of the University of New Mexico.
The UNM Campus Observatory, located at 1919 Lomas Boulevard NE, regularly provides viewing sessions for both students and the general public and houses a Celestron Edge HD telescope.
The white-domed structure was completed in 1955 and has seen some modernization over the years. But now UNM officials are saying that the facility, which has hosted up to 2,000 people in any given semester, is outdated.
According to a UNM press release, the facility additionally lacks “several key aspects for its education and outreach mission.”
It has also been noted that increased light pollution in the vicinity of the observatory has made the building’s site “unsuitable for education, outreach, or research.”
It is thought that it will cost at least $2 million to build a new observatory, which would include a lecture hall and two domes, near the school’s North Golf Course.
A preliminary $10,000 crowdfunding effort has been launched for the effort which has so far raised $6,500.
The building of the original observatory was a protracted affair. The walls were completed by the late summer of 1954, but not until a year later was the actual dome in place. A report in the Albuquerque Tribune said the facility would primarily be used to study “comets and meteors, zodiacal light, and counter-glow.”
By Garry Boulard
