Lowell Observatory ( Eng. Lowell Observatory , observatory code "690" ) - a private astronomical observatory located in Flagstaff ; one of the oldest observatories in the USA , founded in 1894. He conducts extensive educational activities, it is visited by about 70 thousand people a year. It has 12 telescopes, of which 2 are located directly on the Martian hill in Flagstaff. In 1965 it was included in the list of national historical monuments of the USA [1] .
Content
History
Percival Lowell did not visit Arizona until 1894, and confided in the choice of location for the Andrew Ellicott Douglass Observatory - assistant to William Pickering ( William Henry Pickering ). At the end of his life, Douglas admitted that he chose Flagstaff only because there were the best saloons in the whole Far West ... [2]
The place for his observatory, Percival Lowell found in a wooded area of Northern Arizona, at an altitude of 7250 feet (2175 m) above sea level. Lowell called it Martian Hill. For a long time, the main instrument was the 24-inch (61 cm) refractor telescope built by Alvin Clark (1804–1887). This telescope was bought by Lowell in Boston for $ 20,000, and delivered to Flagstaff by rail in 1896. The telescope is in working condition, and is now used for educational purposes: for scientific research, it is already out of date. Also on Martian Hill is a 33-cm (13-inch) astrograph , on which Clyde Tombo discovered the dwarf planet Pluto .
The first director of the observatory was Percival Lowell, after his death in 1916, this position was formally held until 1926 by his cousin architect Guy Lowell . The most famous director was Vesto Slifer (1927-1952, in fact, since 1916). Currently, the observatory is headed by the great-great-nephew of its founder, William Lowell Putnam .
Current State
The modern research telescopes of the Lowell Observatory (a total of 4) are located 12 miles from Flagstaff on Mount Anderson (2163 m) at Anderson-Mesa station . The observation station was founded in 1959. The observatory also has stations in Australia and Chile , and is also involved in the construction of the 4.2 m The Discovery Channel Telescope .
The observatory conducts a wide range of planetary and astrophysical studies. Priorities are considered: the search for asteroids closest to the Earth, the study of trans-Neptunian objects and the Kuiper belt , the search for exoplanets , the study of long-period cycles of solar activity, the study of star formation processes, etc. The observatory operates a 2.5 m infrared stratospheric telescope based on a Boeing- 747. "
Major Discoveries at the Lowell Observatory
- Discovery of Pluto in 1930;
- Measurement of radial velocities of globular clusters and spiral nebulae by Vesto Slifer in 1913-1914 (these data were claimed by the scientific community decades later);
- The discovery of the rings of Uranus in 1977;
- The discovery of a periodic change in the activity of gas and dust emissions by Halley's comet when it was observed in 1985-1986 [3] ;
- The discovery of the atmosphere of Pluto and the calculation of the orbits of its smaller satellites - Nikty and Hydra ;
- The discovery of molecular oxygen at Ganymede (satellite of Jupiter ).
See also
- LONEOS
Notes
- ↑ National Historic Landmarks Program
- ↑ Sheehan, William. Planetary Intelligence, Percival Lowell, and the Theory of Intelligent Life on Mars . The CMO Lowell Page . Communications in Mars Observations (August 24, 2003). - Presentation for Harvard / Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory Sunday August 24, 2003 in connection with “Mars Madness” Week. Date of treatment October 27, 2008.
- ↑ 1990AJ 100..896S Page 896
Links
- Lowell observatory
- Observatory telescopes
- Discovery Channel Telescope
- Flagstaff Clear Sky Clock Forecasts of observing conditions covering Lowell Observatory.
- National Historic Landmarks Program: Lowell Observatory