Another Arizona Trip

My father came to visit in March from Australia, and I had the opportunity to take him to Arizona for a one-week tour. We explored the Grand Canyon, Phoenix, Sedona, old Route 66 and various points in between. A highlight was spending an evening at the Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff. We took in several lectures which were very interesting. Some were entry-level astronomy "sky at night" fare, but others were more focused on the evolving discoveries connected with Pluto - from it's initial discovery to the recently acquired images and knowledge provided by the New Horizons spacecraft and its team of scientists. Not still a planet??? C'mon now - let it back into the club. It behaves just like one, from a tectonic perspective alone!

We managed to get a view through the 24" Clark Refractor (pictured below) of Jupiter, after lining up for about an hour in the cold. It was simply stunning! The seeing was very good that night, and we could see a clear image of the Great Red Spot, the planet's wispy cloud bands with intricate detail and the four Galilean moons. I could even see detail within the GRS itself, different shades of red. It's the best view of Jupiter I have ever seen, and dad was pretty much blown away by it as well. I'll drag my 12" Lightbridge to check out Jupiter again soon, but I know it won't be the same!

We also had the chance to visit the impact crater near Winslow. The views of the crater from the observation decks were terrific, and they have a splinter chunk of the asteroid/meteor that caused the impact on display to touch and examine more closely. It felt like pure iron or metal, and gave you an eerie sense of the damage a really large asteroid of this nature could cause if it impacted our planet. Well worth a visit if you're up that way!

Hopefully I'll have some more astro-images to share soon as the warm, spring nights take hold here in Texas.

Lowell Observatory, Flagstaff, Arizona

Astronomical highlight #2 of our Rote 66 tour included a visit to the Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff. This was where Percival Lowell discovered old, poor Pluto and also made maps of the 'canals" on Mars! :-) We went rather late on a somewhat cloudy night and viewed a number of objects through the observatory's stattic scopes, as well as some portable scopes set up in the grounds (a 16" Discovery dob, 8" Meade LX200 Classic and 8" Orion dob). Views were okay. My Lightbridge easily rivaled the view of Jupiter through their 16". The large scope at the observatory was out of commission due to some recalibration work being done to their drive gear system. Oh well. Still, it was great to walk around a historical, astronomical site.

We also took in a general lecture presented by one of the astronomers on staff. He gave a brilliant review of the Drake Equation which my whole family understood, as well as a beginner-level review of the constellations. All in all, a worthwhile visit!

The Meteor Crater in Arizona

The family and I took a great road trip recently along the famous Route 66. We toured Texas, New Mexico and Arizona. This area really showed off a lot of the splendor that the United States has to offer. Part of our trip included a visit to the meteor crater near Winslow, Arizona. Absolutely fantastic stuff. Granted, you have to pay a small fee to get through the visitor center to access the crater rim itself, but the center has some interesting displays and movies concerned with meteors and asteroids, impacts, gravity, momentum and the like. The view of the crater is great from the various viewing platforms, especially under some nice, mostly clear Arizona blue skies. Well-worth a visit if you're in the area!