Chiefland Astronomy Village Tour
Our non-profit organization maintains a 330' x 450' observing field for club members who do not own property in the Village. The club observing field is provided for and maintained by the club members. The site contains a shade pavilion, flush toilets, and hot-water showers. We have nine 30 amp RV outlets, and 40 regular outlets around the perimeter of the field.
The grounds are kept mowed for your convenience. One of the finest features of the club area is the almost total lack of Florida's state bird, the mosquito. You can observe in comfort year round.
Imagine a mini-star party every month of the year! Every new-moon weekend you will find our members and their invited guests setting up their telescopes under our dark skies. See our observing calendar for suggested dates. Come join us.
For non-members to visit the site at night you must get permission ahead of time and attend with a club member.
CAV Panorama, the entire observing feld is Satellite WiFi covered, donated by a CAV Property Owner.
The CAV Clubhouse with restrooms, microwave and refrigerator now includes a donated PC with Satellite WiFi connection.
Twelve "adult" sized picnic tables from locally hewn Red Cedar and two
large BBQ pits for CAV Member use. Four outdoor hot/cold showers and
kitchen sink are located to the left of the Clubhouse.
March, 2008
The Chiefland Astronomy Village is proud to announce we have opened an new extension to our observing facilities. An additional observing field with apx. 15 acres of dark sky is available for members and guests. We now boast apx. 20 acres of dark observing fields.
Aerial view of CAV
The new observing field currently has ten 110VAC 30Amp RV power receptacles,
which will be increased to 12 in the near future. There are currently twelve
110VAC 20Amp receptacles available for "telescope operation only". Heavy
duty cables will be daisy-chained across the field with multiple outlets for
everyone's use. Several water spigots are also available. A second Club House
with restroom facilities is planned for completion sometime in April, 2008.
All standard Chiefland rules apply.
The second observing field may be reached by turning left at mailbox 5310,
just before Andy Druga's property. Please follow the driveway back, turning
right and then left past the Domes. This new facility is brought to you
by John and Patty Novak, Tom and Lynn Crowley. Please respect
their property just as you do on Tom Clark's original obserting field.
Please do not use Tom Clark's fenced yard as a walk-through to visit friends
on the expansion field. Use either the driveway at the 5310 mailbox or walk
around through Alice Dodd's overflow field and Tom Crowley's gate to get to
the second observing site.
The skies are slightly better because trees block the light from the roads
to the North. During March, 2008 New Moon weekend there were about 10 observers
on the new facility. Initial feedback was quite positive, they even commented the trees to
the Southwest acted as a wind block. We are striving to make the new field
as astronomer friendly as possible. So come and try out our second observing field.
