Percival was the beneficiary of a family who became wealthy during the Industrial Revolution, and had the resources to pursue astronomy. He traveled the world searching for a good observation site, even as far away as Chile, but Flagstaff won out due to it's clear night skies, low light pollution (at least in 1894), and closeness to a railroad for easy transportation of supplies.
Our first stop of the visit to Lowell was in the courtyard behind the Welcome Center to view the sun through a hydrogen filter telescope.
We were able to see sunspots and solar flares in a safe manner. Very interesting!
Percival Lowell's car, "Big Red", was manufactured by the Stevens-Duryea company of Massachusetts, and delivered to Flagstaff in 1911. It has been completely restored and is often driven in local parades.
We were able to tour the Alvan Clark & Sons telescope, built in 1896 and shipped from Boston by rail. A local bicycle shop was commissioned to construct the building housing the telescope, and they managed to include several unique items it it's construction.
Our guide, Kevin, explained the intricacies of the telescope, which proved to be overwhelming to us tourists, but very interesting nevertheless.
The moveable dome is constructed entirely of wood, and remains much as it was when completed in 1896. A recent renovation of the telescope did not address the dome and it's mechanisms.
After a series of experimental methods to easily and safely rotate the dome, one of which involved a trough of water with the dome floating in it, the solution became obvious in the 1950's when a large supply of 1950 Ford wheels and tires were donated. With appropriate axles and bearings, and four electric drive motors, the dome today moves like a noisy clock. Amazingly, the wheels, tires, and hubcaps are all original! Kevin told us that periodically one will unexpectedly pop and have to be replaced with a tire built as close as possible to the original!
We toured the Pluto Dome, where Clyde Tombaugh used a 13" telescope to discover Pluto in 1930. A visit to the Museum Open House got us into a discussion of past and present research of the observatory, as well as an overview of the Solar System, Stars, and Galaxies. A bit overwhelmed, we left in the late afternoon to return to the motorhome and give Sasha a bit of attention. Part of the break involved a delicious lunch at MartAnne's for Breakfast. They've recently added dinner to the menu, so we indulged in a Chipotle Chicken Dinner and the daily special, which was a cheese enchilada with an egg over, and a cup of posole. Absolutely outstanding! This restaurant is located on historic Route 66, in an old repurposed building, and so has a lot of character. This is a great place to stop if you're in the area.
We returned to Lowell Observatory after dark, which was about 7:30 pm. The public is invited to view celestial bodies through the various telescopes that are open. We started with a portable 16" telescope set up to view the moon. We got a pretty good shot through the eyepiece of the telescope!
The 24" Clark Telescope was focused on Antares, and allowed us to see the various colors of the star, some 470 light years away. The McAllister Telescope was focused on the Ring Nebula, formed when gas is expelled into space by a red giant star which was passing through the last stages of its evolution before becoming a white dwarf star. 2300 light years from earth, it appears as a rainbow colored ring with a dark center, consistent with it's expanding nature. No photos here!
Our last stop of the evening was at another 16" portable telescope set up to view the Owl Cluster. Also known as the Dragonfly Cluster. The collection of stars has the appearance of both of these earthly creatures. at 7,900 years away from our sun, and with an age of 21 million years, the cluster is in the constellation Cassiopeia. Fascinating, but no photos again, doggone it!
In an isolated corner of the campus we had a great view of the Milky Way, which appeared as a great white stripe across the sky.
On Wednesday, we gathered up our toys and departed Flagstaff for Laughlin, Nevada, 189 miles west. The weather in Flagstaff, at over 7,000 feet, was a little to windy and cold for our tastes (65 day/31 night), so we wanted to warm up a bit in a place where the daytime temp is in the high 80's this time of year, and the nights are a balmy 75!
Laughlin is a casino town, built with $100 bills, and located along the Colorado River, about 35 miles northwest of Kingman, Arizona. There's not a great deal to do here if you don't gamble, but the Riverside Casino has a 700+ site RV park, and is running a $140 a week special, so here we are!
We're established on the upper of three tiers of rv sites, with a great view of downtown.
The night is alive with Las Vegas style lights.
We had lunch today at the Riverside Casino Buffet in a room that overlooked the river. There was a bit of a breeze blowing, so the water appeared to be moving at breakneck speed!
The temp was warm, so we had fun watching the watercraft on the river!
Nessie has been infested with Gremlins recently, and today we enjoyed their handiwork in large measure. If you recall, back in late July, the washing machine quit working after an electrical issue at a park. After awhile, a casual reboot got it working again! Hooray! Well, today, it quit again, but with different symptoms. Boo! Our water heater went wacky late last night leaving D in a shower with cold water. Not good! Neither the electrical or the diesel fired heating elements worked. Ok. Then a few minutes later, everything began to work fine.....hmmmm. This morning when we got up, an overhead light was on....one that we specifically turn off when we go to bed.....The television had begun to sporadically loose it's signal....You see how this is going. So after phone calls to the motorhome manufacturer, the water heater company, and after posting questions on the internet, we were no closer to a solution than before, so we're hoping to at least name our gremlin friends, so that we can invite them for dinner....
Happy Birthday, Dad. It would have been 99 today!
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