Lowell Observatory

Named one of TIME's 100 Greatest Places and Best Science Museum by Newsweek readers, Lowell Observatory is an independent, non-profit research institution founded in 1894 by Boston mathematician Percival Lowell. More than 45,000 nights have passed since the first telescope arrived on Mars Hill. In that time, Lowell astronomers have been at the forefront of astronomical research. It was here that Clyde Tombaugh discovered Pluto in 1930 and V.M. Slipher first detected the expanding nature of the universe nearly two decades earlier. That tradition continues today with the observatory’s state-of-the-art Lowell Discovery Telescope and the ongoing discoveries being made by the current generation of Lowell astronomers and planetary scientists. In 2024, Lowell opened the Astronomy Discovery Center, which features a roof-top, open-air planetarium. Rather than a traditional enclosed planetarium in which guests view images of celestial bodies, this one takes advantage of Flagstaff’s exquisitely dark skies to look at the real thing—stars and their celestial buddies in their natural setting.