And, so I eagerly drove up to Flagstaff and visited the Lowell Observatory. My eyes were opened even further with its history and their plans for the future. 

Lowell Observatory has been revealing the universe for over 125 years! This observatory was the first permanent scientific institution in Flagstaff.
It was in 1894 that Percival Lowell, from an influential Boston family, put his energy and money into creating the Observatory. He had a keen interest in Mars. Flagstaff was good for dark night skies and location. His 24-inch Alvan Clark telescope installed then is still used today. I got to peek through it and saw an old, almost-ready-to-explode star, Arc Tarus.

As I visited the Rotunda building on campus, the docent told me it is a research library for astronomers and still used today by 14-15 astronomers who are on staff. They also do remote research by the Lake Mary area and I understand there is viewing going on at the Happy Jack area also. It seems the design for the building came about from Percival’s wife, Constantine, who was not impressed with all the money and time he spent on star gazing and solar viewing. She, however, liked Saturn and so it was built in the shape of Saturn to please her.

I was also intrigued by the Pluto telescope dome that housed the telescope called “astrograph,” a kind of telescope that takes photos on glass slides. It was in the third search the astronomers were doing that Pluto was found with a newly built telescope that had better features. 

When this third search started, the research team included the simple farm boy amateur, Clyde Tombaugh, who was only 23 years old. Percival Lowell was this young man’s idol. Clyde sent some of his findings on his own telescope to Lowell and asked generally if someone would look at them and tell him if he was on the right track. 

Lowell responded by asking him several personal questions. After Clyde answered questions about himself, which puzzled him why the scientists would need to know (for example, was he in good health, etc,), he was invited to join the research group at Lowell. Clyde took sequential photos of the night skies with glass plates -- knowing that if it was a planet, it would be moving in the sky and stars would always stay fixed. 

In January 1930, it was the young -- now 24-year-old -- Clyde Tombaugh who discovered a new planet -- in the area that Lowell had predicted planets would be found. Clyde discovered this new ninth planet -- which would later be named Pluto -- and it is the only planet discovered in the United States for our solar system 

Then came the naming of this new-found planet. It turned out that a young girl in England submitted the name Pluto through her father and it won the contest. Planets have always been named for gods or goddesses. She chose Pluto as he was the God of the Underworld and this planet was in darkness and far away. 

I was pleased to learn that Flagstaff -- from the urging of the scientists -- was the first to enact the dark skies ordinance in 1958 and still serves as a model for protecting the dark skies in our world. 

In 2005, ground was broken for the Discovery Channel Telescope, which is one of the world’s most powerful telescopes, helping Lowell to remain at the cutting edge of astronomical research for the future. 

It was July 21, 2012 that Neil Armstrong walked on the moon and his historic happening is part of the celebrations going on now at the Lowell Observatory. 

I then met up with Kevin Schlindler, historian at the Observatory, and he told me about their July 20th celebration of the first moon landing. Throughout the day there will be tours, access to exhibits and, at 6 p.m., a local band will play space and moon theme music followed by a panel discussion at 7p.m., with some of the scientists who trained the astronauts who made the moon walks. The celebration continues with human interest stories. 

I did not know that it took 400,000 people working to get us to the moon -- including engineers, designers of rockets and other staff. Flagstaff was the site for training the astronauts, with trips to the Meteor Crater (another Arizona sight to see!) to practice. A panel will talk about this at 7p.m. and then at 7:45 p.m., they will play video of the moon walk which was captured in 2012 when Neal Armstrong was here to dedicate the new Discovery Channel telescope. Also shown from his last public appearance, the video clip will be played of when they almost ran out of fuel, 

After that, he will be shown walking on the moon celebrating one of our species’ greatest accomplishments. It was televised live and over half a billion people watched it as it was being telecast. This video will be shown all over the campus. It is a grainy video but it is history in the making.

Normal telescope viewing will also be available that night. It is estimated that, because of all the training and mapping done here at Lowell and USGF, it was a center for the preparations for going to the moon such as the testing instruments and the rovers they drove around on the moon. So now, fifty years later, this community will celebrate. 

Lowell Historian Kevin said, “The celebrating started last July 20th and runs to the end of this year – 2019 -- and there are over 150 activities, including hikes where the astronauts walked and special guest speakers. On September 20th, one of the four astronauts, Charlie Duke, who was on the Apollo mission, will speak. They named one of the craters Flagstaff (technically called FLAG) because the astronauts trained in Flagstaff. There was one geologist who walked on the moon, Harrison Jack Schmidt, who later ran as a United States senator. And as missions went on, there was pressure to include a scientist and he was chosen from Flagstaff. 

The upcoming events are like reliving it -- fifty years later. And about legacy, every astronaut that walked on the moon trained here in Flagstaff and Northern Arizona.”  

I asked Kevin about what changes are upcoming for the Observatory. 
By fall 2019, they plan to open the 4,300 square foot Glovale Open Deck Observatory with viewing capacity of six mounted telescopes. It will have a special feature -- the whole building rolls back to view the night skies and there will be multiple telescopes to use.

In addition, there will be a new Visitors Center. It will cost 20 million dollars to build and they already have a new donor who has generously paid for half of it. 

Kevin noted, “Politically speaking, we are often so caught up in our little cell phones and looking down but now people want to look up in nature instead. Lowell Observatory is a place to do science and share the wonder of the universe where we are reputable and sound. It helps our critical thinking skills. Just because it is said on television, it doesn’t mean it happened or didn’t happen. Be your own authority.”

I asked Kevin, what would be the one thing he would like people to take away from visiting Lowell Observatory.

He answered -- without hesitation -- “To experience the wonder of the universe. Come to Lowell and share this excitement of the universe. We don’t need to know the astrophysics of how a star works to marvel about it.”

I couldn’t have said it better myself. My wonderment of our universe out there in space was expanded and I walked away with another layer of awe for this scientific magic! 

If you go, you can find more information on the daytime and nighttime programs. Open 10 a.m. – 10 p.m., Monday-Saturday; 10 a.m. - 5p.m. on Sundays. Visit their website: www.lowell.edu or by calling 928 774-3358.

And I invite each of us, when nighttime falls, to take a break from our busy day and night television programs; go outside and -- as best you can, wherever you live -- look UP, way UP into the beauty of the night sky filled with mystery and wonder. It brings a renewed sense of freedom. Enjoy your starry night and wish upon a star that all humans may enjoy a sense of peace and contentment.