Lowell Observatory

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Image:LowellObservatory.jpg Image:Percival Lowell.observing Mars from the Lowell Observatory.jpg

Lowell Observatory is an astronomical observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona. It was founded in 1894 by astronomer Percival Lowell, and run for a time by his third cousin Guy Lowell of Boston's well-known Lowell family.

The observatory operates nine telescopes at two locations in Flagstaff. The main facility, located on Mars Hill just west of downtown Flagstaff, houses the original 24-inch (.61-meter) Clark Refracting Telescope, although its role today is as a public education tool and not research. The telescope, built in 1896 for $20,000, was assembled in Boston by Alvan Clark and then shipped by train to Flagstaff. The telescope is listed as a national historic landmark. Also located on the Mars Hill campus is the 13-inch (0.33-meter) Pluto Discovery Telescope, used by Clyde Tombaugh in 1930 to discover the planet Pluto.

The second observation site, located 12 miles south of downtown Flagstaff atop Anderson Mesa, houses four telescopes, including a 72-inch (1.8-meter) Perkins telescope that it shares with Boston University, the 42-inch (1.1-meter) Hall Telescope and the Navy Prototype Optical Interferometer (NPOI). The Perkins telescope was moved to Lowell in 1961 from Perkins Observatory in Delaware, Ohio.

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Current research

Current research at Lowell Observatory focuses primarily on solar system objects. LONEOS (Lowell Observatory Near-Earth-Object Search) is an ongoing search that scans the sky for comets and asteroids that could potentially impact the Earth in the future. Other research programs include searches for Kuiper Belt Objects, extrasolar planets, and planetary satellites. Staff astronomers at the observatory also study the formation, evolution, and properties of stars. They also study the interstellar medium and star formation and evolutionary processes in the Milky Way and other galaxies.

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