national solar observatory/ sacramento peak

Visited in April 2012, my old account disappeared... Nice place to visit. The views from up there are awesome! Nice ride from Alamogordo. The scenery is just amazing!

This place is very educational if you have a teenager that is interested in space. At the time of our visit the observatory was being used. They were concentrating on a sunspot which was very interesting. The crew allows you to go in and see then work. This place is one of those things you have to see and enjoy the great view. Beware it is about 30 degrees colder here than in town.

We were excited to visit the NSO (National Solar Observatory). The vista on the ascent to Sunspot from Cloudcroft was beautiful and overlooks en route overlooked White Sands where we actually observed a missile launch! Once at Sunspot, however, it was more than a little underwhelming. The tiny community of Sunspot consists of scientists that work at the observatory. The observation areas for tourists were mediocre (one can observes the scientists at work....we were told would be soon moving to sights in Colorado and/or Hawaii). Some of the displays for visitors were not working. If you have the time and are truly interested in this type of work......go. Otherwise, drive on.

Interesting side trip to a little known aspect of scientific research regarding the sun. Neat little museum full of information. Short walk around the various solar telescopes, a couple which you can go in while folks are at work. Talk the walk slow as you are at altitude. Small gift shop in museum.

An unusual visitor attraction, this, and well worth the visit, especially as the original observatories are still on site, so that you can follow the development of solar science over the years. There were several people working in the labs while we were there, but we were surprised (to say the least) to discover that although a thorough knowledge and understanding of solar activity are absolutely essential for the running of present-day communication systems, funding has been cut rather than increased for the observatory. It seems a short-sighted view and it is surely important that visitors come to this site and understand how crucial such research is - you might not be specially interested in it, but it affects all our lives in innumerable ways, even if we don't realise it. The guided tour (which offers spectacular views as a bonus) should have been useful, but unfortunately our guide was pretty clueless, couldn't answer half our questions and spoke so quickly and indistinctly (even after we had begged her to speak more slowly and clearly) that the non-Americans among us gave up trying to follow the gabble. I would guess that this sort of unprofessional guided tour is a result of funding cuts, but it does the observatory no favour. Nonetheless, we spent a most enjoyable and informative morning there.

Depending on where you are driving from, the national solar observatory is not the A list attraction that I would recommend as a destination point. However, as a peaceful mountain drive and combined with other stops, this out of the way museum may be exactly what a pent up family needs. About an hour drive from Alamogordo, and with picturesque Cloudcroft on the way, look for planet signs along route 6563 indicating ratio of distance each is from the Sun. The small museum at the visitors center has informative but claustrophobic exhibits. Best to stay there as little time as possible and get on to the easy self guided walking trail to the various observatory buildings. The scenic view point is spectacular, overlooking white sands national monument.

If you enjoy science and would like to see the sun in ways you may otherwise not get to see, this is the place to go.The visitor center has many displays and visuals to see and use for experiments they have set up to teach the visitor about the sun and the light coming from it. You are also able to enter some of the telescope buildings to see the telescope in use. The tour is self-guided and self-paced. Be aware, though, that the facility is 9200 ft above sea level and I was feeling the effects of the high altitude while I was there, but I really enjoyed my visit.