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CLOUDCROFT, N.M. (AP) - An observatory being refurbished near Cloudcroft is getting a new mission — providing telescope time for budding astronomers around the world.
The Tzec Maun Observatory in the Lincoln National Forest was built by the Air Force in 1962 to track Soviet space activity during the Cold War. Its 48-inch diameter Newtonian telescope was last used in the mid-1990s by the National Science Foundation.
"When we first came in here in late 2004 to begin refurbishing the system, it was like walking into a 'Twilight Zone' episode," said observatory director Ron Wodaski. "There was equipment lying around half-assembled and books sitting on desks still opened, just like all the people had vanished while in the middle of their daily duties."
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