Qualla: Lowell Observatory

Lowell Observatory: Introduction

Wed, 28 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit SSR2000, CC BY-SA 3.0. Neil Armstrong gave his last public speech here. On July 21, 2012, the first man to walk on the Moon stood at Lowell Observatory to celebrate the first light of a new telescope, then died several weeks later. It was a fitting final stage for an astronaut - this pine-studded hilltop in Flagstaff, Arizona, has been rewriting what humanity knows about the cosmos since 1894. Founded by a Boston aristocrat convinced that Mars harbored intelligent life, Lowell Observatory went on to produce discoveries far stranger than alien canals: a ninth planet lurking at the edge of the solar system, galaxies fleeing from each other at staggering speeds, and the rings of Uranus.

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Image: SSR2000 | CC BY-SA 3.0

Lowell Observatory: A Brahmin's Martian Obsession

Wed, 28 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit LittlefieldEmery, CC BY-SA 4.0. In 1877, the Italian astronomer Giovanni Schiaparelli reported seeing linear features on Mars that he called "canali" - channels. The word was mistranslated into English as "canals," implying artificial construction. Percival Lowell, scion of one of Boston's wealthiest families, ...

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Image: LittlefieldEmery | CC BY-SA 4.0

Lowell Observatory: The Planet That Waited

Wed, 28 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit brewbooks from near Seattle, USA, CC BY-SA 2.0. Clyde Tombaugh was a 24-year-old Kansas farm boy without a college degree when Lowell Observatory hired him in 1929. His task was grueling: photograph the night sky in pairs, then compare the images using a blink comparator, looking for anything that shifted position against the ...

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Image: brewbooks from near Seattle, USA | CC BY-SA 2.0

Lowell Observatory: The Universe Flies Apart

Wed, 28 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit InSapphoWeTrust from Los Angeles, California, USA, CC BY-SA 2.0. Pluto was Lowell's headline act, but the observatory's most profound contribution to science came earlier and with less fanfare. Between 1912 and 1914, astronomer Vesto Melvin Slipher measured the spectra of spiral nebulae - what we now know as galaxies - and found that most were...

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Image: InSapphoWeTrust from Los Angeles, California, USA | CC BY-SA 2.0

Lowell Observatory: The New Eye on the Mountain

Wed, 28 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit SSR2000, CC BY-SA 3.0. The Lowell Discovery Telescope, perched at 7,740 feet southeast of Flagstaff near Happy Jack, Arizona, is the fifth-largest telescope in the contiguous United States. Its 4.3-meter primary mirror weighs 6,700 pounds yet is only a few inches thick - a precisely figured meniscus he...

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Image: SSR2000 | CC BY-SA 3.0

Lowell Observatory: Dark Skies Over Mars Hill

Wed, 28 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Tonissa Saul, CC BY-SA 4.0. Flagstaff became the world's first International Dark Sky City in 2001, and Lowell Observatory is a major reason why. The city has maintained strict lighting ordinances since 1958, ensuring that the view from Mars Hill remains one of the darkest urban skies in America. Walk the c...

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Image: Tonissa Saul | CC BY-SA 4.0