I visited the Lowell Observatory in November 2019. The entrance fee ticket was $20. I went to the Lowell Tour given by Gene. This was the story of Percival Lowell. We went to visit the Clark telescope which was the largest telescope that I have ever seen. Gene also gave the Pluto Tour. We went to the Rotunda which contained the whole history of how Pluto was discovered. The photos showing how they identified Pluto were interesting. Also the fact that the name Pluto was given by a young girl in the United Kingdom. After that was the Pluto Walk. The Pluto Walk has an exhibit on each planet and includes the Sun, Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, the asteroid belt, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto and another asteroid belt that most people do not know about. The exhibits give information on rotation time, revolution time, distance from the sun and other facts and information. The Pluto Walk leads to the actual telescope that was used to discover Pluto. Unfortunately by then I was tired and did not feel like climbing the steps to see the Pluto Telescope up close. Flagstaff is 7000 feet above sea level and it is easy to get tired. Pluto's status as a planet has changed recently to a so-called "dwarf planet". I ended my visit to the Lowell Observatory by going to the gift shop. I greatly enjoyed my visit to the Lowell Observatory and hope to visit there again my next time in Arizona. I would like to thank Gene, the guide, for the informative tours and for his passion about astronomy.
