Corralitos Observatory was an

astronomical observatory An observatory is a location used for observing terrestrial, marine, or celestial events. Astronomy, climatology/meteorology, geophysics, oceanography and volcanology are examples of disciplines for which observatories have been constructed. Th ...

located in the Rough and Ready Hills approximately west of

Las Cruces, New Mexico Las Cruces (; ; lit. 'the crosses') is the List of municipalities in New Mexico, second-most populous city in the U.S. state of New Mexico and the county seat, seat of Doña Ana County, New Mexico, Doña Ana County. As of the 2020 United States ce ...

. It was formally dedicated on October 12, 1965, serving as a remote station of

Dearborn Observatory The Dearborn Observatory is an astronomical observatory located on the Evanston campus of Northwestern University. The observatory was originally constructed in 1888, through an agreement between the university and the Chicago Astronomical Soc ...

Northwestern University Northwestern University (NU) is a Private university, private research university in Evanston, Illinois, United States. Established in 1851 to serve the historic Northwest Territory, it is the oldest University charter, chartered university in ...

. In October 1965, a NASA program to detect

transient lunar phenomenon A transient lunar phenomenon (TLP) or lunar transient phenomenon (LTP) is a short-lived change in light, color or appearance on the surface of the Moon. The term was created by Patrick Moore in his co-authorship of NASA Technical Report R-277 ''Ch ...

(TLP) was begun by the staff. Using two-person observer teams, a total of 6,466 man-hours of lunar observation was recorded. The program was run until 1972 but did not confirm any TLP. Using ninety-eight selected reports of TLPs received from amateurs during this period, 39 were checked from Corralitos Observatory. On October 22, 1966, a specialized Schmidt wide-angle camera was set up at the observatory. Sponsored by

Chrysler FCA US, LLC, Trade name, doing business as Stellantis North America and known historically as Chrysler ( ), is one of the "Big Three (automobile manufacturers), Big Three" automobile manufacturers in the United States, headquartered in Auburn H ...

, the telescope employed a

aperture In optics, the aperture of an optical system (including a system consisting of a single lens) is the hole or opening that primarily limits light propagated through the system. More specifically, the entrance pupil as the front side image o ...

correction mirror and a spherical mirror with combined a focal length. It was built as a test model for a far

ultraviolet Ultraviolet radiation, also known as simply UV, is electromagnetic radiation of wavelengths of 10–400 nanometers, shorter than that of visible light, but longer than X-rays. UV radiation is present in sunlight and constitutes about 10% of ...

camera intended for the

Apollo spacecraft The Apollo spacecraft was composed of three parts designed to accomplish the American Apollo program's goal of landing astronauts on the Moon by the end of the 1960s and returning them safely to Earth. The expendable (single-use) spacecraft ...

. This may have been the first operational camera of its type. Also in 1966, a optical diameter image orthicon system previously located at Organ Pass Station in the

Organ Mountains The Organ Mountains (also known as La Sierra de los Órganos) are a rugged mountain range in southern New Mexico in the Southwestern United States. Organ Mountains–Desert Peaks National Monument was declared a national monument on May 21, 2014 ...

east of Las Cruces was moved to Corralitos. It was replaced with a system in 1969. The observatory was mainly staffed by students of New Mexico State University. During the 1970s, the first operational semi-automated

supernova A supernova (: supernovae or supernovas) is a powerful and luminous explosion of a star. A supernova occurs during the last stellar evolution, evolutionary stages of a massive star, or when a white dwarf is triggered into runaway nuclear fusion ...

e search program was conducted at the observatory, using and Cassegrain telescopes. After the telescope was automatically computer pointed to a galaxy, it would allow visual comparison of a high-resolution monitor to a master picture, though photographed also. For difficult galaxies the high-resolution screen photograph negatives were checked within an hour and compared to a prior master set. Ten supernovae were found at Corralitos. On April 14, 1970, U.T. James and Mickey Gallivan, using the 0.6 m telescope, were believed to have been the only ones to have photographed the explosion of

Apollo 13 Apollo 13 (April 1117, 1970) was the seventh crewed mission in the Apollo program, Apollo space program and would have been the third Moon landing. The craft was launched from Kennedy Space Center on April 11, 1970, but the landing was abort ...

as it was approaching the Moon. In 1971, a photograph of

Apollo 14 Apollo 14 (January 31February 9, 1971) was the eighth crewed mission in the United States Apollo program, the third to Moon landing, land on the Moon, and the first to land in the Geology of the Moon#Highlands, lunar highlands. It was the las ...

separating from the

S-IVB The S-IVB (pronounced "S-four-B") was the third stage on the Saturn V and second stage on the Saturn IB launch vehicles. Built by the Douglas Aircraft Company, it had one J-2 rocket engine. For lunar missions it was fired twice: first for Earth ...

rocket was taken by Justus Dunlap from the observatory. In 1973, the site included and Cassegrain telescopes equipped with storage tubes, remote readouts and image orthicon electronic imaging tubes. The 0.6 m telescope had automated operation capability controlled by a computer. A Cassegrain was available for photometry, and the Chrysler Schmidt telescope was still available. By 1977, only the 0.6 m and 0.4 m telescopes were reported as operational. In 1978 operations at the site were halted due to funding issues, and in 1981 the observatory was transferred to the Corralitos Astronomical Research Association (CARA). As recently as 1997, the observatory was reported to be engaged in long-term photometric monitoring of faint

Be star Be stars are a heterogeneous set of stars with B spectral types and emission lines. A narrower definition, sometimes referred to as ''classical Be stars'', is a non-supergiant B star whose spectrum has, or had at some time, one or more Balmer ...

s. The CARA website had not been updated since 2001 prior to it being shut down in 2012, and there are no references to new observatory activities in the academic literature.

References

External links

History of Dearborn Observatory
from Northwestern University Astronomy and Astrophysics {{Portal bar, Astronomy, Stars, Spaceflight, Outer space, Solar System, Education, Science Astronomical observatories in New Mexico Buildings and structures in Doña Ana County, New Mexico Defunct astronomical observatories 1965 establishments in New Mexico

See also

References

External links