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Lowell Observatory

The Clark Telescope Dome on Mars Hill
Organization	Private institution
Observatory code	690
Location	Flagstaff, Arizona
Coordinates	35°12′10″N 111°39′52″W / 35.20278°N 111.66444°W / 35.20278; -111.66444Coordinates: 35°12′10″N 111°39′52″W / 35.20278°N 111.66444°W / 35.20278; -111.66444
Altitude	2,210 m (7,250 ft)
Established	1894
Website	http://www.lowell.edu
Telescopes
Discovery Channel Telescope 4.28 m (169 in) telescope (located at Happy Jack, Arizona) Perkins Telescope 180 cm (72 in) cassegrain telescope (located at Anderson Mesa) John S. Hall Telescope 110 cm (42 in) Ritchey-Chretien telescope (located at Anderson Mesa) Unnamed telescope 79 cm (31 in) reflecting telescope (located at Anderson Mesa) LONEOS Schmidt Telescope 64 cm (25 in) catadioptric (located at Anderson Mesa) 24-inch Clark Telescope 61 cm (24 in) Alvan Clark refractor Unnamed telescope 53 cm (21 in) reflecting telescope Unnamed telescope 46 cm (18 in) astrograph John Vickers McAllister Telescope 41 cm (16 in) Boller and Chivens cassegrain telescope Abbot L. Lowell Astrograph (Pluto Discovery Telescope) 33 cm (13 in) astrograph Planet Search Survey Telescope (located at Anderson Mesa) Navy Precision Optical Interferometer six-aperture astronomical interferometer with baselines up to 437 m (1,434 ft) (located at Anderson Mesa, operated in partnership with the USNO (through NOFS) and the NRL) Lowell Observatory U.S. National Register of Historic Places U.S. National Historic Landmark The Slipher Rotunda Museum at Lowell Observatory Show map of Arizona Show map of the US Built 1894 MPS Flagstaff MRA (AD) NRHP reference # 66000172 Significant dates Added to NRHP October 15, 1966[1] Designated NHL December 21, 1965[2]
Location of Lowell Observatory
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Lowell Observatory is an astronomical observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona, United States. Lowell Observatory was established in 1894, placing it among the oldest observatories in the United States, and was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1965.^[2][3] In 2011, the Observatory was named one of "The World's 100 Most Important Places" by TIME. It was at the Lowell Observatory that the dwarf planet Pluto was discovered in 1930 by Clyde Tombaugh.

The observatory was founded by astronomer Percival Lowell of Boston's Lowell family and is overseen by a sole trustee, a position historically handed down through the family. The first trustee was Lowell's third cousin Guy Lowell (1916–1927). Percival's nephew Roger Putnam served from 1927–1967, followed by Roger's son Michael (1967–1987), Michael's brother William Lowell Putnam III (1987–2013), and current trustee W. Lowell Putnam.

The observatory operates several telescopes at three locations in the Flagstaff area. The main facility, located on Mars Hill just west of downtown Flagstaff, houses the original 61-centimeter (24-inch) Clark Refracting Telescope, which is now used for public education, with 85,000 annual visitors. The telescope, built in 1896 for $20,000, was assembled in Boston by Alvan Clark & Sons and then shipped by train to Flagstaff. Also located on the Mars Hill campus is the 33-centimeter (13-inch) Pluto Discovery Telescope, used by Clyde Tombaugh in 1930 to discover the dwarf planet Pluto.

Lowell Observatory currently operates four research telescopes at its Anderson Mesa dark-sky site, located 20 km (12 mi) southeast of Flagstaff, including the 180-centimeter (72-inch) Perkins Telescope (in partnership with Boston University) and the 110-centimeter (42-inch) John S. Hall Telescope. Lowell is a partner with the United States Naval Observatory and Naval Research Laboratory in the Navy Precision Optical Interferometer (NPOI) also located at that site. The Observatory also operates smaller research telescopes at its historic site on Mars Hill and in Australia and Chile.

Past Anderson Mesa, on the peak of Happy Jack, Lowell Observatory has also built and is commissioning the 4.28-meter (169-inch) Discovery Channel Telescope in partnership with Discovery Communications, Inc.

History

The observatory has carried out a wide array of research. One of its programs was the measurement of the variability of solar irradiance.^[4] When Harold L. Johnson took over as the director in 1952, the stated objective became to focus on light from the Sun reflecting from Uranus and Neptune.^[4] In 1953, the current 53 cm (21-inch) telescope was erected.^[4] Beginning in 1954, this telescope began monitoring the brightness of these two planets, and comparing these measurements with a reference set of Sun-like stars.^[4]

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  Percival Lowell in the observer's chair of the Alvan Clark 61 cm (24-inch) refractor
  

  
  

  
  


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  Historic Clark telescope installed in 1896 and housed in a wooden dome resting on automobile tires.
  

  
  

  
  


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  33 cm (13-inch) astrograph used to discover Pluto
  

  
  

  
  

Discovery Channel Telescope (DCT)

Rotunda building

Lowell Observatory is building a major new reflecting telescope in partnership with Discovery Communications, located near Happy Jack, Arizona. This Discovery Channel Telescope (DCT), located within the Mogollon Rim Ranger District of the Coconino National Forest, is expected to be the fifth-largest telescope in the contiguous United States, and it will enable the astronomers of Lowell Observatory to enter new research areas deeper into outer space.

The DCT and the research carried out there will be the focus of ongoing informative and educational television programs about astronomy, the sciences, and technology to be telecast on the Discovery channels. The primary mirror of the Discovery Channel Telescope will be 4.28 m (169 in) in diameter, with an uncommon meniscus design for such a large mirror. This mirror was ground and polished into its parabolic shape at the Optical Fabrication and Engineering Facility of the College of Optical Sciences of the University of Arizona (in Tucson, Arizona).

Current research

Lowell Observatory's astronomers conduct research on a wide range of solar system and astrophysical topics using ground-based, airborne, and space-based telescopes. Among the many current programs are a search for near-Earth asteroids, a survey of the Kuiper Belt beyond Neptune, a search for extrasolar planets, a decades-long study of the brightness stability of the sun, and a variety of investigations of star formation and other processes in distant galaxies. In addition, the Observatory staff designs and builds custom instrumentation for use on Lowell's telescopes and elsewhere. For example, Lowell staff built a sophisticated high-speed camera for use on the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA). SOFIA is a joint project of the United States and German space agencies and consists of a 2.5-meter (8.2-foot) telescope on board a Boeing 747 SP.

Discoveries

• The dwarf planet Pluto by Clyde Tombaugh in 1930


• Large recessional velocities of galaxies by Vesto Melvin Slipher between 1912 and 1914 (that led ultimately to the realization our universe is expanding)


• Co-discovery of the rings of Uranus in 1977


• The periodic variation in the activity of Comet Halley during the 1985/1986 apparition^[5]
  


• The three largest known stars
  


• The atmosphere of Pluto
  


• Accurate orbits for two of Pluto's moons: Nix and Hydra
  


• Oxygen on Jupiter's satellite Ganymede
  


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  Carbon dioxide ice on three Uranian satellites


• The first Trojan of Neptune
  


• Evidence that the atmosphere of HD 209458 b contains water vapor

See also

• List of largest optical telescopes in the continental United States

References

Sources

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  Strauss D. (1994). "Lowell, Percival, Pickering, W.H. and the founding of the Lowell Observatory". Annals of Science. 51 (1): 37–58. doi:10.1080/00033799400200121.
  


• David Strauss, Percival Lowell: The Culture and Science of a Boston Brahmin (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2001)


• William Graves Hoyt, Lowell and Mars (Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 1976)


• William Lowell Putnam, The Explorers of Mars Hill: A Centennial History of Lowell Observatory, 1894-1994 (New Hampshire: Phoenix Publishing, 1994)

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Lowell Observatory.

• Lowell Observatory


• Discovery Channel Telescope


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  Flagstaff Clear Sky Clock Forecasts of observing conditions covering Lowell Observatory.


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  National Historic Landmarks Program: Lowell Observatory+

Historic American Buildings Survey (photographic survey)

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  Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS) No. AZ-206, "Lowell Observatory, 1400 West Mars Hill Road, Flagstaff, Coconino County, AZ"


• HABS No. AZ-206-A, "Lowell Observatory, Slipher Building"


• HABS No. AZ-206-B, "Lowell Observatory, Clark Dome"


• HABS No. AZ-206-C, "Lowell Observatory, Pluto Dome"


• HABS No. AZ-206-D, "Lowell Observatory, Mausoleum"


• HABS No. AZ-206-E, "Lowell Observatory, Water Tank"


• HABS No. AZ-206-F, "Lowell Observatory, Lodge"