Lowell Observatory

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Lowell Observatory

The Clark Telescope Dome on Mars Hill

Organization

Private institution

Code

690

Location

Flagstaff, Arizona

Coordinates

351210N 1113952W

Altitude

2,210 m (7,250 ft)

Established

1894

Website

http://www.lowell.edu

Telescopes

(throughNOFS) and the NRL)

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's original 61-centimeter (24-inch) Alvan Clark Telescope is still in use today
for public education. Lowell Observatory hosts 85,000 visitors per year at their Steele Visitors
Center, who take guided daytime tours and view various wonders of the night sky through the
Clark Telescope and other telescopes. It was founded by astronomer Percival Lowell of
Boston's well-known 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 19271967, followed by Roger's

sonMichael (19671987), Michael's brother William Lowell Putnam III (19872013), 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, 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. Also located on the Mars Hill campus is the 33centimeter (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 theUnited 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 Telescopein partnership with
Discovery Communications, Inc.
Contents
[hide]

1 History (see discoveries below)

2 Discovery Channel Telescope (DCT)

3 Current research

4 Notable discoveries

5 See also

6 References

7 External links

History (see discoveries below)[edit]

Aside from the wide array of research and discoveries listed below, one science program
carried out at the Observatory was the measurement of the variability ofsolar 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 andNeptune.[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
sunlike stars.[4]

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

Alvan Clark refractor telescope, the first permanent telescope at Lowell Observatory

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

Discovery Channel Telescope (DCT)[edit]

Rotunda building

Main article: Discovery Channel Telescope

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. It will be supposely notable for its 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