Sunday April 28, 2024
We enjoyed a leisurely Sunday morning in our rmotorhome because we didn’t need to depart until 11 am (official check-out time) so that we did not arrive early at out next campground. We had a huge brunch of scrambled eggs with cheese and fajita leftovers, grits, toast, and sausage (veggie). The 85-mile drive to Flagstaff was windy but nice with beautiful scenery. We refueled before checking into Site 153 at the Flagstaff KOA Holiday.
Approaching Flagstaff on I-40 W
Flagstaff KOA Office
After settling into our new site and eating a light snack, we drove across town to the Lowell Observatory. We purchased out tickets in the Steele Visitor Center just in time to hear a presentation in the auditorium. We learned that the observatory founder, Percival Lowell, was the son of a Boston textile magnate. Percival pursued a career in mathematics at Harvard and became interested in astronomy. In pursuit of an ideal location for telescopy, he came out west and eventually found what is now known as Mars Hill beside Flagstaff. Using his family’s wealth, he contracted with an east-coast company, Alvan Clark & Sons, to build a refracting telescope with a 24” lens. He used this telescope to study the planet Mars. Based on his Martian observations, Lowell theorized about intelligent life on Mars. His theories were controversial among the scientific community but were devoured by the general public. They helped generate a cultural consciousness of extraterrestrial intelligence that found its way into the nascent sci-fi genre.
Steele Visitor Center on Lowell Campus
Following his presentation, our guide, Dylan, lead us on a walk across the campus to the Clark Telescope Dome. Along the way, we passed an expensive lawn ornament, the skeleton of a 42” reflecting telescope, and the Hendricks Center for Plantetary Studies. Inside the dome, Dylan, showed us the 24” Clark refracting telescope and further discussed Lowell’s career. Lowell is interred in a mausoleum beside his telescope.
42” Lampland Telescope
Hendricks Center for Plantetary Studies
Clark Telescope Dome
Our Guide Dylan explains the History of the Clark Telescope
The 24” Clark Refracting Telescope
Mausoleum of Percival Lowell
We had some time to wander around Lowell Campus before the next presentation, so we headed back to the Steele Visitor Center to study the displays and walk through the gift shop. From there, we walked uphill to the Giovale Open Deck Observatory where we could observe the sun through a telescope. We also wandered through and admired the ‘scopes parked there ready for this evening’s viewing.
Meterorite Display
Too Late for this Event
Giovale Open Deck Observatory for Telescope Viewing
Can I have One of These?
Deer grazing on Lowell Campus
Astronomers’ Restrooms
We then entered the Rotunda Museum to hear Dylan’s next presentation, The Story of Pluto. The building, originally designed to be a library, had an idealized Saturn lamp overhead and a presentation globe that could also project planet images and various maps of Earth.
Lowell Observatory is known for its discovery of Pluto. Based on the orbital path of Neptune, Lowell had mathematically predicted the existence of another planet but because of limits of the telescopes of his day, he died before Planet X was discovered. Later, the observatory director, decided to continue the search for Planet X and hired Clyde Tombaugh for the task. Tombaugh was a farmer from Kansas with a huge astronomy passion and had built an impressive telescope using parts from a Buick automobile, cream separator and other farm machinery. Guided by Percival’s equations, he captured nightly photos with a special imaging telescope and during the day, used a blink comparator to detect any movement against the star background in pictures taken six days apart. After nearly a year of searching, on February 20, 1930, Tombaugh found Plantet X.
An English school girl proposed the accepted name, Pluto, the Greek god of the underworld. Pluto’s symbol is a monogram of PL, which are also Percival Lowell’s intials. The name of Walt Disney’s canine character is believed to have been inspired by Pluto’s discovery. Since Pluto’s discovery, other small planet-like bodies orbiting our sun have been discoverd and in 2006, they and Pluto were reclassified as dwarf planets. Currently, at least 13 dwarf planets have been found. Although Pluto is the largest of the dwarf plantets, it fails to meet the modern definition of a planet because its gravity has not sufficiently cleared the debris from its orbital neighborhood.
Rotunda Museum
Interior of the Rotunda Museum
Saturn Overhead Light
Presentation Sphere
Clyde Tombaugh’s Farm-made Telescope
Blink Comparator (right) used to detect
Pluto’s Motion from Photographs
Clyde Tombaugh’s Lab (1st floor) and Residence (2nd floor)
After learning about Pluto’s discovery by Clyde Tombaugh, we followed Dylan to the Pluto Discovery Dome to see the imaging telescope that he had employed. We climbed to the dome along the Pluto Walk where signs marked the relative locations of the sun and its planet. Inside the dome, Dylan demonstrated how the Pluto Astrograph operated.
Pluto Discovery Dome
Pluto Astrograph
Dylan demonstrates changing the Photographic Plate
An Important Safety Feature
After the Pluto Story presentation and tour, we descended Mars Hill, pausing at an overlook to observe Flagstaff. In town, we drove along an edge of Northern Arizona University campus and parked near downtown. We walked a few blocks to the Lumberyard Brewing Co. where we enjoyed beers and dinner.
View of Flagstaff from Mars Hill
Edge of Northern Arizona University Campus
Our Beer & Dinner Spot
Flagstaff IPA & Pumphouse Porter
Then, we again ascended Mars Hill to Lowell Obsevatory. Fortunately, the skies had cleared. While darkness was progressing, we sat in on two more presentations, Colors of the Cosmos and Surviving in the Final Frontier. Then, we hiked back up to Giovale Open Deck Observatory along luminescent walkways. There, we were able to view several galaxies through either telescope eye pieces or monitors.
After viewing, Jane drove us back down Mars Hill and across town to our campground. We were exhausted from the day’s adventures and once inside the motorhome, wasted no time in turning in for the evening.
Luminescent Walkway
Nighttime Astrological Information Board