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Cathey Peak
Cathey Peak is a peak in the Sacramento Mountains, in the south-central part of the U.S. State of New Mexico. It lies in Otero County, southeast of the community of Alamogordo. Sacramento Peak, at , is a nearby subpeak of Cathey Peak, and is more widely known due to the presence of several observatories on or near its summit. It is located at , southwest of Cathey Peak, and has a topographic prominence of approximately . The Sunspot Solar Observatory is on the summit itself, and the site of this observatory incorporates the small town of Sunspot, less than one-half mile (0.8 km) to the northeast. The Apache Point Observatory is located on a promontory about one-half mile (0.8 km) south of the summit. Both peaks lie on the high western crest of the Sacramento Mountains, and hence have gentle, forested eastern slopes, and a steep, high escarpment to the west, descending to the Tularosa Basin The Tularosa Basin is a graben basin in the Basin and Range Province and w ...
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Otero County, New Mexico
Otero County is a county located in the U.S. state of New Mexico. As of the 2010 census, the population was 63,797. Its county seat is Alamogordo. Its southern boundary is the Texas state line. It is named for Miguel Antonio Otero (born 1859), Miguel Antonio Otero, the territorial governor when the county was created. Otero County includes the Alamogordo Micropolitan Statistical Area. History The county declared a state of emergency in April 2019 when the United States Border Patrol interior checkpoints, federal inspection stations on U.S. Route 70 and U.S. Route 54 were left unstaffed by U.S. Customs and Border Protection as part of the temporary closure of all six checkpoints in the El Paso Sector, which covers West Texas and New Mexico. The county was concerned about the possibility of illegal narcotics flowing north unchecked since the checkpoint agents had been shifted to the border to help process migrant asylum-seekers. The inspection stations reopened August 5, 2019. O ...
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Sacramento Mountains (New Mexico)
The Sacramento Mountains are a mountain range in the south-central part of the U.S. state of New Mexico, lying just east of Alamogordo in Otero County (small portions of the range lie in Lincoln County and Chaves County). From north to south, the Sacramento Mountains extend for , and from east to west they encompass .These figures are derived from the official description of the range by the Board on Geographic Names, see the for the range. Geography The Sacramentos can be divided into two sections: a main, northern section, encompassing most of the land area and all of the terrain above , and a smaller southeastern section, contiguous with the Guadalupe Mountains. Neighboring ranges and landforms include the Tularosa Basin, immediately to the west of the main section of the range; Sierra Blanca and the Capitan Mountains to the northwest and northeast; the Border Hills and the western edge of the broad Pecos River valley to the east; the Guadalupe Mountains to the southeast; ...
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United States Geological Survey
The United States Geological Survey (USGS), formerly simply known as the Geological Survey, is a scientific agency of the United States government. The scientists of the USGS study the landscape of the United States, its natural resources, and the natural hazards that threaten it. The organization's work spans the disciplines of biology, geography, geology, and hydrology. The USGS is a fact-finding research organization with no regulatory responsibility. The agency was founded on March 3, 1879. The USGS is a bureau of the United States Department of the Interior; it is that department's sole scientific agency. The USGS employs approximately 8,670 people and is headquartered in Reston, Virginia. The USGS also has major offices near Lakewood, Colorado, at the Denver Federal Center, and Menlo Park, California. The current motto of the USGS, in use since August 1997, is "science for a changing world". The agency's previous slogan, adopted on the occasion of its hundredt ...
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New Mexico
) , population_demonym = New Mexican ( es, Neomexicano, Neomejicano, Nuevo Mexicano) , seat = Santa Fe , LargestCity = Albuquerque , LargestMetro = Tiguex , OfficialLang = None , Languages = English, Spanish ( New Mexican), Navajo, Keres, Zuni , Governor = , Lieutenant Governor = , Legislature = New Mexico Legislature , Upperhouse = Senate , Lowerhouse = House of Representatives , Judiciary = New Mexico Supreme Court , Senators = * * , Representative = * * * , postal_code = NM , TradAbbreviation = N.M., N.Mex. , area_rank = 5th , area_total_sq_mi = 121,591 , area_total_km2 = 314,915 , area_land_sq_mi = 121,298 , area_land_km2 = 314,161 , area_water_sq_mi = 292 , area_water_km2 = 757 , area_water_percent = 0.24 , population_as_of = 2020 , population_rank = 36th , 2010Pop = 2,117,522 , population_density_rank = 45th , 2000DensityUS = 17.2 , 2000Density = 6.62 , MedianHouseholdIncome = $51,945 , IncomeRank = 45th , AdmittanceOrder = ...
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Alamogordo, New Mexico
Alamogordo () is the seat of Otero County, New Mexico, United States. A city in the Tularosa Basin of the Chihuahuan Desert, it is bordered on the east by the Sacramento Mountains and to the west by Holloman Air Force Base. The population was 31,358 as of the 2020 census. Alamogordo is known for its connection with the 1945 Trinity test, which was the first ever explosion of an atomic bomb. Humans have lived in the Alamogordo area for at least 11,000 years. The present settlement, established in 1898 to support the construction of the El Paso and Northeastern Railroad, is an early example of a planned community. The city was incorporated in 1912. Tourism became an important economic factor with the creation of White Sands National Monument in 1933, which is still one of the biggest attractions of the city today. During the 1950s–60s, Alamogordo was an unofficial center for research on pilot safety and the developing United States' space program. Alamogordo is a ch ...
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Observatory
An observatory is a location used for observing terrestrial, marine, or celestial events. Astronomy, climatology/meteorology, geophysical, oceanography and volcanology are examples of disciplines for which observatories have been constructed. Historically, observatories were as simple as containing an astronomical sextant (for measuring the distance between stars) or Stonehenge (which has some alignments on astronomical phenomena). Astronomical observatories Astronomical observatories are mainly divided into four categories: space-based, airborne, ground-based, and underground-based. Ground-based observatories Ground-based observatories, located on the surface of Earth, are used to make observations in the radio and visible light portions of the electromagnetic spectrum. Most optical telescopes are housed within a dome or similar structure, to protect the delicate instruments from the elements. Telescope domes have a slit or other opening in the roof that can be opened during ...
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Topographic Prominence
In topography, prominence (also referred to as autonomous height, relative height, and shoulder drop in US English, and drop or relative height in British English) measures the height of a mountain or hill's summit relative to the lowest contour line encircling it but containing no higher summit within it. It is a measure of the independence of a summit. A peak's ''key col'' (the highest col surrounding the peak) is a unique point on this contour line and the ''parent peak'' is some higher mountain, selected according to various criteria. Definitions The prominence of a peak may be defined as the least drop in height necessary in order to get from the summit to any higher terrain. This can be calculated for a given peak in the following way: for every path connecting the peak to higher terrain, find the lowest point on the path; the ''key col'' (or ''key Saddle point, saddle'', or ''linking col'', or ''link'') is defined as the highest of these points, along all connecting pat ...
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Sunspot Solar Observatory
The Sunspot Solar Observatory (SSO) is an astronomical observatory designed for the study of the Sun. The observatory is operated by New Mexico State University (NMSU) and the U.S. National Solar Observatory (NSO). It is split between operations at the telescope facility at Sunspot, New Mexico, and data and management at the Department of Astronomy at New Mexico State University. The Sunspot telescope facility is in the Sacramento Mountains, approximately south of Cloudcroft. Access to the facility telescopes and grounds are open for to the public for guided tours. It is funded by the National Science Foundation in partnership with the state of New Mexico. General information The Sunspot telescope facility is located in Sunspot, New Mexico, and is part of the Lincoln National Forest on the western edge of the Sacramento Mountains. The ~ area is located on National Forest Service lands, managed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, U.S. Forest Service (USFS), Lincoln Nati ...
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Sunspot, New Mexico
Sunspot is an unincorporated community in the Sacramento Mountains in the Lincoln National Forest in Otero County, New Mexico, United States, about south of Cloudcroft. Its elevation is . The Sunspot Solar Observatory and Apache Point Observatory are located in Sunspot in the Sacramento Mountains. The site of Sunspot is leased by the National Science Foundation (NSF) from the US Forest Service (USFS), and is operated and maintained by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy. The telescope and site are both open to the public, and the visitors center offers guided tours of the site on Saturdays and Sundays. On other days there is a self-guided 1/2 mile trail around the telescope and White Sands overlook. History It was named after the presence of the National Solar Observatory on Sacramento Peak, in a vote that was allegedly rigged by the observatory's director John Evans. The road leading to Sunspot from Cloudcroft is New Mexico State Road 6563, named fo ...
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Apache Point Observatory
The Apache Point Observatory (APO; obs. code: 705) is an astronomical observatory located in the Sacramento Mountains in Sunspot, New Mexico, United States, approximately south of Cloudcroft. The observatory is operated by New Mexico State University (NMSU) and owned by the Astrophysical Research Consortium (ARC). Access to the telescopes and buildings is private and restricted. History The ARC was formed in 1984 with the goal of building the 3.5 m telescope. It originally consisted of five institutions: New Mexico State University, University of Washington, University of Chicago, Princeton University, and Washington State University, some of which have since withdrawn. Several additional organizations have joined over time: Johns Hopkins University, University of Colorado, University of Virginia, Georgia State University, University of Oklahoma, University of Wyoming, and Brigham Young University. Funding for the 3.5 m and 0.5 m telescopes comes from the ...
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Tularosa Basin
The Tularosa Basin is a graben basin in the Basin and Range Province and within the Chihuahuan Desert, east of the Rio Grande in southern New Mexico and West Texas, in the Southwestern United States. Geography The Tularosa Basin is located primarily in Otero County. It covers about (35% larger than Connecticut). It lies between the Sacramento Mountains to the east, and the San Andres and Oscura Mountains to the west. The basin stretches about north–south, and at its widest is about east-west. It is geologically considered part of the Rio Grande Rift zone, which widens there due to the slight clockwise rotation of the Colorado Plateau tectonic plate. Notable features of the basin include White Sands National Park, Oliver Lee Memorial State Park, the Carrizozo Malpais lava flow, Holloman Air Force Base, and the White Sands Missile Range with the historic Trinity nuclear test Site. Tularosa Creek flows westward into the Tularosa Basin just north of the village of Tularo ...
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Cloudcroft, New Mexico
Cloudcroft is a village in Otero County, New Mexico, United States, and is located within the Lincoln National Forest. The population was 674 at the 2010 census. Despite being located in an otherwise arid region, its high elevation (; one of the highest in the U.S.) allows for a mild summer that makes it a popular tourist attraction in west Texas and southern New Mexico. It was named by Fodor's in 2002 as the Number 3 "Most Overlooked and Underrated Destination Spot." Tourism remains the primary economic driver of the village. History In the 1890s, the El Paso and Northeastern Railroad, organized by brothers Charles Bishop Eddy and John Arthur Eddy, arrived in the newly founded town of Alamogordo intending to continue the rail line north to the mining town of White Oaks and beyond. This required a steady supply of timber. In 1898 the Eddy brothers sent a survey crew into the Sacramento Mountains to determine the feasibility of extending a line up the summit to harvest the ...
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