Lowell Observatory

Here in Flagstaff they have an observatory. Percival Lowell was the first man to start up the observatory. It was really neat to see all equipment that they used back "in the day". The first picture is a tomb of Percival Lowell. Below is his telescope creation. It was GIGANTIC! One funny fact, I guess Lowells wife was quite a spender. When he passed away she built the tomb over him and it cost $40,000. Inside the tomb it looks like your looking up at the stars (so they say).  The telescope Lowell built cost $20,000.

 The thing that was so cool about taking the tour is that not only was your pass good for a day tour but you could come back that night and view the stars. So we were able to take the kids back at dusk and when it got dark we were able to see through several telescopes they had set up. The coolest view we got was of Saturn. We actually saw the rings...it was so amazing.

 One of the things the guy mentioned about this specific telescope was all the knobs on it. They had to have different textures because back in the day there was no electricity so in order to know which knob they were going to turn they felt around to find the right texture.

 This room was completely circular. Mike and I thought it was really cool  how they  made bookshelves along the wall. This is where they would do their research.

View of the circular building from the outside.

 This fella is the telescope that discovered Pluto....its too bad he is no longer considered a planet. They put the boxing glove over that knob because people kept bumping into it and getting hurt. But it was fun to look through the telescope and imagine what it would have been like to actually be there when they discovered Pluto. Another funny fact. A girl in England who was 11 years old actually named it. She sent a picture and told why they should name it Pluto because it was after a greek god. It also was a great choice because it was marked after Percival Lowells symbal "PLuto".

 The house where the Pluto telescope is at.

 This is one of the first telescope shelters. The roof of the house would roll across the top onto the beams and when they were finished observing for the night it would roll right back over the telescope.

 The building is a robot telescope. Hyrum like that one...we didn't get to see inside but the fact that their is a robot in their is pretty cool....says Hyrum.

 This is another experiment facility to help house the telescopes. They built the telescope underground and the top would poke out of the ground. It ended up not working and they use this  building for grounds keeping today.

 This is one of the first refactor telescopes. They used mirrors to see through into the sky.

 This is a moon rock! Adam is also showing off his acorn we found on the trail.

 I believe the moon rock was over 500 lbs.

 At the end of the tour we were able to go view the sun through a specific telescope. We were able to see sun flames coming off the sun. And it wasn't orange it was a bright red color.

What a cool trip. It has been so great to live in Flagstaff because of all the tourist attractions. We have had an amazing summer full of fun learning adventures.