Sunspot is the real-but-tongue-in-cheek
name of a small hamlet in the
Sacramento Mountains of southeastern
New Mexico. It was given this name because it
is the home of the National Solar Observatory
and the bedroom community
housing its scientists. Sunspot is located about
fifteen miles south of Cloudcroft, just off
of SR 6563, and lies within the
Lincoln National Forest.
The origins of Sunspot date to 1947, when
the High Altitude Observatory and the
United States Air Force began site selection
for a national observatory dedicated to
studying the Sun.
In April of the following year, the Air Force
contracted out to Harvard University
(co-founders of HAO) to build the observatory
at Sacramento Peak, in the Sacramento Mountains
east of Alamogordo. Construction of observatory
buildings, telescopes, and housing units began
immediately, though the early living and working
conditions weren't so good. Roads in the area
were so primitive that during the winter of 1948,
warm clothes had to be air-dropped to people
working on-site! But eventually, the project
expanded to include a few dozen housing units
for permanent staff, apartments for visiting
astronomers, and paved roads. The observatory
itself is located on Sacramento Peak, but the
community was given the name Sunspot
with the establishment of a post office in
1953. It is mostly in honor of the work done
there, but is also a reference to the crystal
clear daytime skies that Sunspot is graced with.
There are several dozen scientists and their
families living in Sunspot, all affiliated with
the Solar Observatory as technical support or
research staff. In 1997, Sunspot opened a
Visitor Center, where the general public
may tour the observatory grounds and view
exhibits on general astronomy, the work done
at Sunspot, and the National Forest Service.
However, as a bedroom community it has few
amenities that larger communities might have,
and grocery shopping and whatnot has to be done
in the nearby communities of Cloudcroft
or Timberon. Sunspot is also at
high-altitude -- over 9200 feet (almost 2800
meters) above sea level -- so it takes awhile
to get used to working and sleeping there.
The nearest neighbor to Sunspot is the Apache
Point Observatory (APO), about a twenty minute walk
from Sunspot. The Sacramento Peak Observatory
conducts observations during the day, and
Apache Point takes over at night. APO
has its own housing facilities, but when they have
more people than beds on-site, scientific visitors
are frequently given accomodation in Sunspot
apartments. Some of the Apache Point telescope
operators live in Sunspot as well. Beyond
that, Sunspot is a very tiny island in the
wilderness. However, despite the isolation,
Sunspot is in the midst of some very beautiful
country, situated as it is within the
Lincoln National Forest. Autumn
is especially
beautiful up there, with its mixture of birch,
aspen, and maple trees. And of course,
you have the view -- when the air is clear, you
can see the entire Tularosa basin, including
Alamogordo and White Sands National
Monument in the basin, and the Organ
and San Andres Mountains about fifty miles to
the west.
As a final note, the name "Sunspot" isn't the only
awful pun related to the site. The road passing
through the housing area is called
Coronal Loop. And the highway to the
observatory, SR 6563, comes from the
wavelength (in angstroms) of the
Balmer-α
emission line
observed in the solar chromosphere.
Beyond firsthand knowledge, I also obtained some historical information
from http://www.nso.edu/sunspot/sp_index.html