Arizona Sky Village

The Village Gallery

Sky Village from the Air

ASV from the Air

This aerial view shows how spread out the houses are. No street lights and plenty of space mean the skies are dark and the desert is hardly disturbed at all by our presence. The Green Witch house is on the edge of the more densly vegetated area alongside Cave Creek.

Green Witch House from the Air

Green Witch House from the Air

Behind the house you can see the roll-off roof observatory and the hard-standing with windscreen known as Rattle-snake Alley Observatory. No-one has actually seen a rattle-snake on the property but the two Canadian astronomers who built the windscreen liked the sound of the name.

Green Witch House

Green Witch House with Chiricahuas beyond

From the air the vegetation appears fairly sparse but it looks much thicker from the ground.

Green Witch House in the Snow

After an Over-night Snowfall

It's most unusual to get much snow in the desert; there's usually just a light dusting spilt over from the mountains. In January 2007, six inches fell overnight in the village.

Prickly Pear

Prickly Pear Cactus

This is a more typical view in the village with traditional desert plants such as cacti.

Beno House

Rick and Vicki Beno's House and Observatory

Rick and Vicki have a delightful home with one of the best-finished observatories I've seen. Besides being practical and functional it is very comfortable to work in.

Beno Telescope

Rick Beno's well-appointed Observatory

Rick's 16-inch Meade LX200 has an Orion 5-inch refractor mounted piggy-back. His main detector is my Starlight Xpress MX25C which he has on loan.

Jim Algots' House

Jim Algots' House

Jim's house is at the front of the village close to the mountain. Beyond it you can see Fred Espenak's house.

Espenak House

Fred Espenak's House

Fred Espenak, Mr Eclipse, has built this house at the ASV.

Golden Eagle

Golden Eagle alongside Eagle Path

Gene Turner took this photo of a Golden Eagle in the village. He has another one showing it flying down Eagle Path. You are really close to nature in the village and it's always a delight to have the birds and animals on your doorstep.