Astronomer's Inn
(Formerly Skywatcher's Inn)
An Astronomy Retreat
Benson, Arizona
by Ed Ting
Updated 2/7/07
The Astronomer's Inn
Imagine, if you will, an astronomy bed and breakfast, under pristine
dark skies, with an indoor/outdoor observatory stocked with equipment,
friendly service, near-luxury accomodations, where you can observe all
night to your heart's content, only to have a faithful servant close up
while you stumble into bed a few doors away. You don't have to imagine
because there's a place like that a short plane ride away.
Sound like heaven on earth? Like many, I have looked at the ads for
the Astronomer's Inn (and its New Mexico counterpart, the Star Hill Inn)
for years, wondering what it would be like to spend a few uninterrupted
days thinking about nothing but astronomy. In April 1999, I decided to
find out for myself. Along with three other club members, I traveled
out to the Arizona desert for a long weekend of observing and relaxing.
I expected outstanding observing conditions and not much else. What I
got was a pleasant surprise. Walking in the front door, I was confronted
with a long, large building, extremely well-furnished (almost over-furnished)
and well-equipped for astronomy. The complex is modestly sized but feels
massive, due to its layout - every room seems to lead into every other room
- and the variety its decor. In fact, one your first tasks upon arriving is to
learn your way around the building.
I expected a simple, rustic retreat. Boy, was I wrong! Within minutes, I
found myself happily installed in the Egyptian Room, complete with marble
jacuzzi, satellite TV, and a walk-in marble shower with solid brass fixtures
and inlays on the floor. Other rooms include an Ivy-themed room, and a room
with lots of Star Wars-like toys and a planetarium, complete with a dome in
the ceiling. To put it mildly, I was impressed before I even got to the ob-
servatory.
Ed roughs it
There are two places to go observing. You can use the scopes in the
open-air observatory (many reflectors and refractors, and 2 12" LX200
SCTs) or you can purchase time on the 20" f/10 Maksutov in the
dome. The latter is done through hired help (they don't want you
messing around with the custom built Mak, and I understand why.)
Also, if you bring your own equipment, you can set up on the patio
outside. The relative humidity hovered around 9% when I was there,
so dew isn't a factor.
Finally, if it's cloudy out (not likely) there are mountains of astronomy-
related books, videos, magazines, toys, and a large screen television
to keep you busy.
The observatory, roof closed
As the sun set the first evening, I knew I was in for something
special. At sunset, there was no color at all on the horizon,
something I almost never see from damp New Hampshire skies.
Also, the darkness descends on you like a cool black blanket.
On this first night, I had what may well be my most productive ob-
serving session in my life. Working on my Herschel 400, I bagged
65 objects before midnight with the 12" Meade Starfinder Dob in the
observatory. What's even more impressive is the type of objects I
was observing. I cleaned up on ALL 50 Herschel objects -- 49 (mostly
dim) galaxies and one globular -- in Virgo, in less than 3 hours.
On the second day, I was given a tour of the mirror making facility
at the University of Arizona (thanks to Howard for taking time out
of his busy day!) We saw 6.5 meter and 8 meter mirrors, in various
stages of completion.
The second night, fellow club member Dave had purchased time on
the Maksutov. Mars was nearing oppposition, and he wanted to do
some CCD work. However, the skies looked cloudy, so we called it
off and set out for a leisurely dinner. As the sun set, I peeked
out of the restaurant window, and noticed some clearing in the west.
We jumped in the van and high-tailed it back to the observatory.
The second night was even clearer than the first. I had not intended
to do much "serious" work on my Herschel 400, but after a couple of
hours talking and playing around with other people's scopes, the
conditions were too good to pass up.
Big Mak Attack - the 20" Maksutov
Of the 400 deep sky objects on the Herschel list, a disproportionally
large number of them (158, or 39%) lie in the galaxy-rich spring sky
around Virgo, Ursa Major, Canes Venatici, Leo, and Coma. This poses
two difficulties for the observer. First, you have to locate the objects.
Then, you have to identify them. This can be tough -- in some fields,
there may be several galaxies crowding the FOV.
Still, all 44 Ursa Major galaxies were logged in less than an hour, which
is an amazing rate (at least for me.) I also "cleaned up" the areas in
Canes Venatici and Leo Minor.
Want to know how clear the conditions were? Halfway through the
night, I laid some time aside to look for NGC 6118 in Serpens, which
is roundly considered the most difficult Herschel object of them all.
It's a relatively large galaxy with almost no surface brightness.
Many experienced observers go their whole lives without seeing it.
On this night, I found NGC 6118 in about thirty seconds. It looks
a little bit like M33 does in my TeleVue Ranger under modest light
pollution.
At the end of the second night, I logged 67 new Herschel objects,
another new record for me.
The third night was, incredibly, even clearer than the first two. Dave
made another attempt to work with the Maksutov. I peeked in the dome
to see how he was doing. I saw the CCD camera attached to the focuser
and lots of computers and cables rigged to the scope, so I decided not
to bother him. As it turned out, I never did get to look through that
Maksutov.
On the third night, I decided to slow down my hectic observing pace.
There were a number of novices visiting the Inn (including a local
reporter) and I spent some time showing them some of the brighter spring
objects. Still, after they left, I wound up logging 42 Herschel objects.
Early the next morning, watching the sun rise over the desert, I started
recording my observations over the past three days. It had taken me
nearly 6 months to log the first 157 objects on my Herschel survey.
In the past three nights alone, I had logged another 174 more. App-
arently, observing is a lot like buying a house -- the most important
factors are location, location, and location.
View from the upper parking lot
During my three days at the Inn, it began to dawn on me just how
single-mindedly astronomy-oriented the place really is. Everywhere
you turn, there is some piece of astronomy-related paraphernalia lying
about. The bookshelves are stocked full of astronomy and space-
related books. The magazine stands in the halls and the bathrooms
are filled with old S&T and Astronomy back issues. Any guess as to
what's in the video library?
The whole experience rather smacks of overkill. However, I happen to
LOVE overkill, and I couldn't have been happier.
The Astronomer's Inn offers dynamite observing conditions, superb
accomodations, friendly service (wait until you see what they do for
breakfast around here) and is an excellent value. It's technically an
"astronomy bed and breakfast," but to me, it feels more like a really
nice house with a lot of telescopes in it.
I will be back. In fact, we were already planning our next visit on the
drive back to the airport. Highly recommended. Don't you have some
vacation time coming?
Astronomer's Inn Hots:
Beautifully clear skies, reliable seeing
Luxurious accomodations
There's a 20" Maksutov in the building!
Attentive staff, reasonable rates
Astronomer's Inn Nots:
Far away from East Coast patrons
Non astronomy-minded significant others might be bored
The Verdict:
Get drunk on astronomy at Astronomer's Inn
Equipment List:
Computerized 20" f/10 Maksutov-Cassegrain (fee required)
14.5" f/5 Newtonian
12" f/4.8 Newtonian
12" LX200 SCT (two)
8" f/6 Newtonian
6" f/24 Maksutov
6" f/6 refractor
Tons of accessories, binoculars, charts, tools, etc.
The Astronomer's Inn
1311 S Astronomer's Road
Benson, Arizona
85602
http://www.astronomersinn.com
vegasky@earthlink.net
End Skywatcher's Inn Review
Back to Home Page