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The Lowell Observatory

WRITTEN IN THE STARS

ASTRONOMER PERCIVAL LOWELL FOUNDED HIS ARIZONA stargazing lab in 1894 to aid in his search for life on Mars. While that quest is still ongoing, the observatory made history as the place where assistant Clyde Tombaugh discovered Pluto in 1930. (If you're still not over its dwarf-planet demotion, be sure to visit during the annual I Heart Pluto Festival, which started in 2020.)

Last fall the observatory expanded to welcome visitors in the new $53 million Marley Foundation Astronomy Discovery Center, where the central atrium is dominated by a suspended installation symbolizing the evolution of matter after the Big Bang. Other exhibits are much more down-to-earth, prioritizing all-ages interactivity. Families can catch a show on the two-story, 160-degree wraparound LED theater screen, while kids can smell moondust, send messages into space, and launch their own rockets.

Executive director Amanda Bosh first came to the observatory as an MIT postdoctoral fellow, and she has made spreading the celestial word a core part of her mission, including by co-founding the Native American Astronomy Outreach Program. “When I first visited Lowell Observatory in 1985, I was spellbound by the beautiful telescopes and the important discoveries,” she says. “I’m so happy that I get to share these discoveries with the next generations.”