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Flagstaff 5th graders enjoy programs at Lowell compliments of Robert Ayers Sciences Fund

This morning 5th graders from Marshall Elementary School enjoyed a visit to Lowell highlighted by exciting science demonstrations, an in-depth tour of the Clark Telescope, and fun and educational activities in the exhibit hall. The visit was part of a program sponsored by the Roberts Ayers Sciences Fund that is bringing all 800 5th graders from the Flagstaff Unified School District (FUSD) to Lowell for educational programs.

Prior to this morning’s programs, Lowell director Eileen Friel, FUSD Superintendent Barbara Hickman, and 5th grade teacher Dottie McCann commented about the significance of the partnership between Lowell and FUSD and cited sponsor and Lowell Observatory advisory board member Robert Ayers for his dedication to improving science education. Dr. Friel also read a statement by Mr. Ayers. For more information read the press release.

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Lowell Observatory Re-opened Over the Weekend

After what the Arizona Daily Sun is reporting today as the 2nd biggest snowstorm in Flagstaff’s history, Lowell Observatory’s Mars Hill campus has once again been cleared of snow and the Observatory is open for tours and regular hours. Please come visit soon and remember, members of the Friends of Lowell receive free admission and many other great benefits.

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Lowell remains closed Friday the 22nd

Due to the ongoing snowstorm Lowell will be closed to the public today and tonight.

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Lowell closed today

Due to the heavy snow Lowell will be closed to the public today, January 21.

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Flagstaff Snowstorm #2 & Lowell Again Open for Visitors

The second in a series of snowstorms has pushed through northern Arizona. Once again, the Observatory’s ace grounds crew has cleared off the snow we received and Lowell is open for tours. (See hours and admission). Today there are some lovely drifts on the roofs of buildings and trees on Mars Hill are covered with snow pyramids. If you are planning to visit Lowell Observatory this week, do check area road conditions and weather information from the National Weather Service before you begin your trip to Flagstaff.

Thanks to the Arizona Daily Sun for the online and printed notices regarding the Observatory’s postponement of an announcement scheduled for this morning. The announcement and small event for area media will be rescheduled for Weds. Jan. 27th.

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Lowell Observatory Open for Visitors After Snowstorm #1

After the first of three major snowstorms expected to arrive this week in northern Arizona, Lowell Observatory is dug out and open for visitors. Our grounds crew did a great job, once again, in opening up roads and walkways on the Mars Hill campus. See our regular hours and admission for more info and call (928) 233-3211 for recorded visitor information. As always, members of Lowell Observatory receive free admission, along with the many additional membership benefits.

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Visit Lowell Observatory for Martin Luther King Weekend

Lowell Observatory is featuring special programs for the Martin Luther King weekend. We host a must-attend MLK Star Fest on Sunday night followed by School’s Out and Kids are Free all day Monday. Plan to visit Lowell Observatory! Members receive free admission. Plus, when you join you can also get free admission to over 300 science centers nationwide.

The Arizona Republic calendar section and azcentral.com included our special free day for kids in today’s paper and online!

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Discovery Channel Telescope’s M1 Cell Turned Over at Flagstaff Airport

Lowell Observatory staff (shown here from left: Bill DeGroff, DCT Project Engineer and Byron Smith, DCT Project Manager), were on hand yesterday at Pulliam Airport to help oversee a carefully planned and executed turning over of the 16,000-lb. cell to hold Lowell’s Discovery Channel Telescope primary mirror.

This, the first big piece of the DCT to come here, is a crucial component of the telescope mount to arrive and undergo major work. It arrived with the dummy mirror or simulator on December 23 in Flagstaff. On Monday, a three-person crew from Precision Heavy Haul led by Jim Mussman, turned over the M1 cell (shown in progress in this first photo) using two huge cranes working in tandem. Then, an approximately 7,000-lb. steel structure to simulate the DCT primary mirror in testing was also turned over and carefully placed on jacks atop the M1 cell. In a final phase of the operation, the entire assembly was moved back into a hangar that Lowell Observatory is renting from the City of Flagstaff.

“I think Precision Heavy Haul was very efficient,” said DeGroff. “They spent a lot of time prior to coming up here to understand the job. There was a lot of coordination up front (between Lowell engineers, BEC Southwest’s Kevin Bond, and Precision Heavy Haul).”

Lowell is working with a number of contractors and subcontractors that are Arizona and Flagstaff based. That was evident with the operation on Monday morning since in addition to Phoenix-based Precision Heavy Haul, there were staff from BEC Southwest on hand. Other Arizona companies involved in the making of Lowell’s new 4-meter-class research telescope include M3 Architects; the University of Arizona’s College of Optical Sciences; Laron, Inc.; Mosher Communications; Connect Tech; and others. Shown in the bottom image is Marc Daniels from BEC Southwest during an interview with Channel 12 (NBC).

See also: Arizona Daily Sun feature, More than flipping a pancake
and, a Daily Sun slide show, Discovery Channel Telescope
DCT slide show on the M1 cell and related integration operations

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Distant planets mount

update: See the Discovery News story, a Q & A with Lowell Observatory Instrument Scientist, Ted Dunham (1-7-09)

In her excellent front-page feature story today, the Arizona Daily Sun’s Cyndy Cole covers participation by Ted Dunham, Lowell Observatory Instrument Scientist, in the NASA Kepler mission’s exciting first results. Distant planets mount describes the NASA announcement of five new exoplanets for one of which Dr. Dunham is the lead author on a new paper, A Transiting Hot Jupiter Orbiting a Metal-Rich Star.

The Daily Sun article also mentions asteroseismology results generated by Kepler’s sensitive detector.

“The stellar oscillations are turning out to be awesome — it has the potential to really revolutionize our understanding of stellar interiors,” said Dunham, in a separate interview. “We’re using this to measure the mass, radius, and age of stars.”

image: artist’s conception of the large planet TrES-4 discovered in 2007 by a team that included Lowell Observatory’s Ted Dunham and Georgi Mandushev. artwork by Jeffrey Hall, Lowell Observatory

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NASA Kepler Team Announces 1st Results: Five New Planets

Ted Dunham, Instrument Scientist at Lowell Observatory is a co-Investigator on NASA’s Kepler Mission: The Search for Habitable Planets. At today’s meeting of the American Astronomical Society in Washington, DC, the Kepler team announced the first promising results using the Kepler telescope. Five new planets, Kepler 4b, 5b, 6b, 7b, and 8b were detected by Kepler with its high sensitivity to both large and small planets located outside of the solar system.

“The quality of the data is unbelievable,” said Dunham. “For most stars it’s right at the theoretical limit of what you’d like to see. There are more light curves we’re seeing that also look like transits and we’ll have to follow up on them.”

The NASA press release is here.

Artist’s concept of extrasolar planet TrES-2, discovered by Dunham and colleagues in 2006 and residing in the Kepler field.

credit: Jeffrey Hall, Lowell Observatory

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