Lowell Observatory was the first astronomical observatory in Arizona.
In 1894, Dr. Percival Lowell, a mathematician and amateur
astronomer from Massachusetts, was one of several astronomers in search of
clearer skies through which to observe the planets and stars.
Flagstaff, Arizona, with its dark skies and high elevation was an ideal
location. Spurring Dr. Lowell on was the knowledge that Mars
would soon be at its closest point to the earth: an ideal time to
continue the study of the "Martian" planet more closely. Percival
Lowell assembled a small staff, borrowed two telescopes and commenced
observations. Two years later, he ordered and installed the specially designed 24-inch Alvan Clark refracting telescope.
For many years, the Clark telescope was the major research tool of the
Observatory. Percival Lowell used it himself, and his many hours of
observing Mars through the Clark Telescope resulted in many drawings of
"Mars Globes" that today are considered a piece of history. The Clark Telescope is still in use today as part of
the observatory's educational outreach program for the general public.
Because it was one of the first telescopes of its kind in the late 1800s and early 1900s,
it is considered a National Historic Landmark. Today, Lowell astronomers
observe at modern facilities on Anderson
Mesa, 15 miles south of
Flagstaff, where the skies are yet a little darker.
Although Percival Lowell founded the Observatory primarily to explore the possibility that intelligent life might exist on Mars, the Observatory's research quickly expanded into other areas, resulting in one of its most important discoveries by V.M. Slipher: first evidence that the universe is expanding (1912 - 1917). In addition, in 1930, Clyde Tombaugh, an amateur astronomer from Kansas, completed a search started by Lowell some 25 years prior: the search for the ninth planet. Clyde Tombaugh's discovery of the planet, later to be named Pluto by a young English girl, took place on February 18, 1930. It is the only planet to be discovered in the United States and North America. Pluto has since been downgraded from a planet to a new class of orbiting bodies called "plutonians" or "dwarf planets." Other noteworthy discoveries that have taken place at Lowell Observatory include the discovery of the rings of Uranus, and the continuing search and discovery of numerous asteroids, near earth asteroids, comets, Kuiper Belt Objects, and extra-solar planets. Below are pictures that I took on a trip to Lowell Observatory. You can visit the observatory for more information by clicking here.
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