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The Lowell Observatory was founded in 1894 by Percival Lowell, a science enthusiast from a wealthy Boston family. Lowell received a degree in mathematics from Harvard University, but spent most of his early adult life in the diplomatic service. He became intrigued by the Italian astronomer Schiaparelli's observations of Mars which seemed to imply that Mars was inhabited by intelligent beings with a penchant for building canals. The observatory he built in the high, dry and dark environs of a remote Arizona village was dedicated to establishing the reality of these Martian waterways. He even named the hill on which the observatory sits as "Mars Hill". The main instrument at the new observatory was a specially designed Alvan Clark refractor with a 24" aperture. Although the scientific world came to view Lowell's passion for Martians as an obsession not grounded in reality, the observatory made a number of significant discoveries. Perhaps the best known is the discovery of the planet Pluto in 1930, after Lowell's death. Also it was at Lowell that the American astronomer V. M. Slipher first noticed that the spectra of most spiral nebulae are red-shifted, foreshadowing the later work of Edwin Hubble. The Lowell Observatory today is still a major research institution, although its research functions have been relocated several miles away from the original site. The Mars Hill site is now open to the public as a museum.

Day and night views of the dome housing the 24" Alvan Clark refractor. This is the dome which was erected in 1894. The Alvan Clark refractor was used by Lowell to observe Mars and by V. M. Slipher to take spectra of nebulae. The telescope is no longer used for research and is open to the public on clear evenings.

The 24" Clark refractor originally used by Lowell to study the surface of Mars and by Slipher to study the spectra of nebulae. The two images on the right show the "business end" of the instrument today, a fascinating combination of old and new - computer controls connected to original pulley driven motors. Click on two left photos for larger version of the telescope.

The original dome of the Lowell Observatory is not a classic hemisphere. This dome was constructed entirely of wood, its design constrained by the skills and materials available in late nineteenth century Flagstaff . Lowell largely worked out the design himself, contracting the actual construction to a local "fix-it" shop whose sign proclaimed that they could "build anything". The two pictures above show some details of the dome's intricate woodwork. The image on the left is a ladder used to access the shutter, while the image on the right is a view straight up from the floor. click on pictures for larger version

The observatory's most publicly celebrated achievement was the discovery of "Planet X" by Clyde Tombaugh in 1930. Known today as the planet Pluto, this elusive (and still enigmatic) ninth planet was another of Percival Lowell's obsessions. Although Lowell died in 1916, the search for Planet X remained as an ongoing research program at the observatory. The small observatory and apparatus shown here was dedicated exclusively to this effort. The picture on the left shows the dome which houses the telescopic camera shown on the right. The central picture is of the blink comparator used to evaluate the thousands of photographic plates exposed through this telescope. Click on the right hand picture in the panel above for another view of the "Pluto" astro-camera.