#lowellobservatory

Our new Junior Astronomer program will be ready for take off this Memorial Weekend !Who’s ready to join the ranks?
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#lowellobservatory #lowell #observatory #flagstaffaz #flagstaff #arizona #science #space #astronomy #stemeducation #jrastronomer

Happy birthday to loyal observatory dog, Lucky! So appropriately named for having a birthday today #lowellobservatory #lowell #observatory #flagstaffaz #flagstaff #arizona #dogsofflagstaff #happybirthday

Happy Birthday Percival, 162 years young! #happybirthday #percivallowell #lowellobservatory #lowell #observatory #flagstaffaz

Picturesque as always, the night sky above Lowell’s Discovery Channel Telescope last night. Photo thanks to Dr. Joe Llama, one of our astronomers out observing on the DCT.
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#lowellobservatory #lowell #observatory #flagstaffaz #flagstaff #arizona #discoverychanneltelescope #dct #telescope #science #space #astronomy #astrophotography

A significant polar ice cap on Mars .
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#lowellobservatory #lowell #observatory #flagstaff #arizona #flagstaffaz #snow #mars

Lowell astronomer Joe Llama took this photo last night while observing the night sky with Lowell’s Discovery Channel Telescope. Looks like a great night for viewing! #lowellobservatory #lowell #observatory #dct #discoverychanneltelescope #telescope #astrophotography #milkyway #arizona #science #space #astronomy #nightsky

M27 a.k.a. the Dumbbell Nebula is a planetary nebula located about 400 pc (1,400 light-years) away. It was the first planetary nebula ever discovered, in 1764. A planetary nebula forms when a star like our sun evolves first to a red giant stage, and sheds material, and evolves to a white dwarf. The central star in this nebula (the white dot directly at the center of the nebula) is the largest white dwarf known. This image was taken with the Large Monolithic Imager (LMI) on Lowell Observatory’s Discovery Channel Telescope.

Image credit: Massey/Neugent/Lowell Obs./NSF

#lowellobservatory #lowell #observatory #arizona #discoverychanneltelescope #dct #largemonolithicimager #lmi #m27 #dumbbellnebula #nebula #astrophotography #telescope #science #space #astronomy

What a difference a good night of seeing makes! The image on the left was taken by the LMI on the DCT during a night of poor seeing (that’s when the Earth’s atmosphere perturbs what is seen through a telescope). The image on the right was also taken with the LMI on the DCT in late June during better seeing conditions. M95 is a barred spiral galaxy located about 38 million light-years away.
Credit: Massey/Neugent/Lowell Obs./NSF with the assistance of summer students Madeline Beck and Kate Evans

#lowellobservatory #lowell #observatory #dct #discoverychanneltelescope #lmi #largemonolithicimager #telescope #astrophotography #galaxy #science #space #astronomy #arizona

The finished product! This fresh mirror coating was achieved by putting the clean 14-ft glass in a vacuum chamber and then having vaporized aluminum fall onto it. #lowellobservatory #lowell #observatory #arizona #dct #discoverychanneltelescope #telescope #mirror #science #space #astronomy #optics #engineering

Now without its aluminum coating, the mirror’s glass needs to be extra clean before it is put in the re-aliminization chamber.
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#lowellobservatory #lowell #observatory #arizona #dct #discoverychanneltelescope #telescope #science #space #astronomy #engineering

The DCT’s 4.3-m (about 14 ft) mirror was lifted out of the M1 cell this afternoon. Next the mirror needs to be carefully cleaned in preparation for re-aluminization. #lowellobservatory #lowell #observatory #arizona #dct #discoverychanneltelescope #telescope #mirror #science #space #astronomy #engineering

And touchdown!
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#lowellobservatory #lowell #observatory #arizona #dct #telescope #discoverychanneltelescope #science #space #astronomy #engineering

Slowly….
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#lowellobservatory #lowell #observatory #arizona #dct #telescope #discoverychanneltelescope #science #space #astronomy #engineering

M1 is out! Now to lower it down and lay it flat. #lowellobservatory #lowell #observatory #arizona #dct #telescope #discoverychanneltelescope #science #space #astronomy #engineering

A DCT engineer removes counterweights on Lowell’s DCT. This is just the beginning of the process to access the DCT’s mirror for re-aluminization. #lowellobservatory #lowell #observatory #dct #telescope #happyjack #arizona #science #space #astronomy #engineering #discoverychanneltelescope

According to Lowell Observatory’s Dr. Nick Moskovitz the meteor seen in the early morning hours of June 2nd in Arizona would have been slightly larger than first reported and because of the size there is a strong possibility that fragments of the meteor made it to Earth. The general location of these fragments are known to scientist who are attempting to collect some and hopefully learn a little more about its origin. These images were captured by several of our LOCAMS video cameras. #AZMeteor #lowellobservatory #lowell #observatory #flagstaffaz #flagstaff #arizona #meteor #science #space #astronomy

Did you know Commander Nick Moskovitz is a real person? Well, he’s not a Commander in real life, but he is an Astronomer at Lowell Observatory. Stop by our new exhibit and let Commander Nick guide you in all there is to know about asteroids. Space Guard Academy opens to the public tomorrow! #lowellobservatory #lowell #observatory #flagstaffaz flagstaff #Arizona #spaceguardacademy #science #space #astronomy #stem

So we have all these new Space Guard Academy stickers, and they are super cool! But we could not possibly find enough awesome places to stick them. So we have decided to give them away FREE! We have taken 100 of these stickers to our visitor center and told them the first 100 people to pay admission and visit the new exhibit gets one. The Space Guard Exhibit opens Sunday @ 10 a.m.! See you there. ‪#‎STEM‬ ‪#‎SpaceGuardAcademy‬‪ #lowellobservatory #lowell #observatory #flagstaffaz #flagstaff #arizona #science #space #astronomy #free

Art and science go hand in hand in the unique little mountain town we call home. #flagstaff #visitflagstaff
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#lowellobservatory #flagstaffaz #lowell #observatory #marshill #watertower #mural #art #space #science #astronomy #nature