ISSUE 119 SUMMER 2020 THE LOWELL OBSERVER THE QUARTERLY NEWSLETTER OF LOWELL OBSERVATORY CELEBRATING 125 YEARS COVID-19 STATUS As of September 2020, Lowell Observatory entered Phase 1B of reopening, offering Premium Access to small groups with reservations. For updates see lowell.edu/welcomeback or follow us on social media. IN THIS ISSUE 2 Director’s Update 2 Trustee’s Update 3 Lowell Wins Viola Awards 4 Meteorites From AZ Fall 5 Strange Star Cluster Lowell Observatory Solar Telescope Sees First Light 6 Dispatches from the Universe 7 Staff Highlight: Heidi Larson By Joe Llama, Astronomer 8 SBA Visits Flagstaff Businesses When day breaks in Happy Jack, observing the sized exoplanets orbiting within the habitable 9 New Photos from Old Negatives universe with the 4.3-meter Lowell Discovery zone of our nearest stellar neighbors. Telescope stops until the next evening. That An exoplanet exerts a gravitational tug on is when Lowell's newest telescope begins a its parent star that instruments like EXPRES day of observing. Unlike any other in Lowell measure to infer the presence of an orbiting Observatory's fleet of telescopes, this tiny planet. This method for detecting exoplanets 0.007-meter telescope wakes up and begins is known as the "radial velocity" method and its day of monitoring our nearest star, the was used to discover the first-ever exoplanet Sun. The Lowell Observatory Solar Telescope in 1995. For an Earth-sized planet in the (LOST) sends sunlight into the EXtreme habitable zone of a star like our Sun, the PREcision Spectrograph (EXPRES), an amplitude of that signal is ten centimeters- instrument capable of searching for Earth- per-second. EXPRES is one of the first 10 Phased Reopening Plan sized exoplanets. EXPRES was built by our instruments capable of making that incredible 12 Videos and Live Streams partner Yale University to search for Earth- measurement. continued on page 11 Michael West Awarded Fulbright Scholarship By Kevin Schindler, Historian "Educational exchange can turn nations into people, contributing as no other form of communication can to the humanizing of international relations." So wrote the longtime United States writer, but he is also the recipient of a Senator from Arkansas, J. William Fulbright. prestigious scholarship named after Fulbright The quote seems especially appropriate in a that will finance West’s travels to Finland to story about Lowell Observatory Astronomer share ideas about communicating science. Dr. Michael West. He is not only a gifted continued on page 11 THE ISSUE 119 SUMMER 2020 valiant beast, but it’s 1980s before we got a PPP loan. The technology and now obsolete. foresight of our founder, his With EXPRES online, SSS will ultimate commitment to this retire. place and the flexibility he gave Before SSS, Wes and Brian his successors allowed us to redirect funding very quickly. performed years of observations Third, the people who of the brightness variations of work here responded quickly Sun-like stars, with Brian doing and thoughtfully. With the the meticulous work at the leadership from Jeff Hall, and old 21-inch telescope near our a focus on safely continuing DIRECTOR’S UPDATE instrument shop. TRUSTEE’S UPDATE our twofold mission, everyone worked very hard to keep By Jeffrey Hall Before that program, By W. Lowell Putnam beginning with work as early as this place running well. From 1950 by lifelong staff member our business office team who Take another look at the First my best wishes to all worked many hours to get our striking image on the cover. It’s Henry Giclas, several Lowell of you and my hope that you PPP application in quickly, to a high-resolution spectrum with astronomers searched for are well and staying safe. We our technical team who worked successive bandpasses stacked decades for solar variability are indeed, as the Chinese out ways to safely operate our one above the other. This is by observing brightness proverb/curse goes, “living in telescopes in a pandemic, our a classic feature of an echelle variations in the atmospheres interesting times”, and it is public program and marketing spectrograph like EXPRES. of Uranus and Neptune. challenging to all of us. folks who pivoted quickly to EXPRES therefore continues All institutions with public excellent online programs and Another feature of this massive programs have been challenged instrument is that we don’t a 70-year observational effort now (limited) reopening, our to respond to COVID-19. maintenance and grounds crew have to hang it on the back of to understand the behavior of Lowell Observatory has been our Sun and its stellar siblings. who improved the campus a telescope: it sits downstairs fortunate in several ways that and made it easier to stay safe, with optical fibers feeding Similar long-term programs point to the uniqueness of this everyone at Lowell focused on it with starlight from LDT are underway at Lowell in institution: ways to keep doing science and and sunlight from LOST. It other areas of astronomy and First, we were able talking with the public about begins a new era of solar-stellar planetary science. to continue our science what we are learning. observations at Lowell. Outside the Steele Visitor research with only a limited Lastly, our supporters For 25 years, my colleagues Center is a sign bearing the interruption. Many of our continued to provide critical Wes Lockwood, Brian Skiff, old Yogi Berra-ism You can astronomers have a lot of funding for operations and and Len Bright have used an observe a lot by just watching. existing data that can be for our capital projects. Even identical setup at Lowell’s 1.1- Lowell is singularly well-suited analyzed and re-analyzed. They with challenging economic were able to do this during the conditions, support for the meter telescope at Anderson for these sustained programs, period when our own facilities observatory remains high, and Mesa. The Solar-Stellar and we do them well and were shut down. we are grateful. Spectrograph (SSS) is, like with singular persistence. It’s Second, The Trust Under This is a special place and EXPRES, fed with two optical incredibly exciting to discover the Will of Percival Lowell (to my thanks to all for helping us fibers from the telescope and the Universe’s hidden patterns. give it its full name) enabled us move through this time and a solar tracker. The SSS is a We’ll keep it up. to keep all our staff on payroll keep doing great work. Mars Hill Campus Expansion Update By Dave Sawyer, Technical Project Manager With the completion of the GODO pedway, the Dyer Telescope upgrades, and the Astronomy Discovery Center (ADC) road preparation work earlier this year, our campus expansion efforts are now focused exclusively on the ADC. Site plans for the ADC are currently in the City review process and are nearing the approval stage. Once those are approved, civil construction plans, which are complete, will be submitted to obtain the permits needed to Architects rendering of the Universe Theater. Credit Johnson Walzer Associates. allow us to break ground. In the meantime, the ADC building plans are moving into the detail design phase with efforts focused on building systems design (e.g. mechanical and electrical), and technology development for the Universe Theater and the Dark Sky Planetarium. We have been working with vendors that specialize in planetarium technology and illumination systems to advance our designs for the theater screens, projection systems, and production equipment to the point where the architectural elements can be finalized. 2 THE ISSUE 119 SUMMER 2020 Kevin Schindler accepts the Viola Award for Community Impact - Organization award. Lowell Takes Home Viola Awards In addition to helping the Development Department with monthly mailings, By Madison Mooney, volunteer Sherry Nastan was Lowell’s Content Marketing Specialist first Rotunda Open House greeter. She also assisted with the Native American The Flagstaff Arts Council’s 12th Astronomy Outreach Program and helped organize and digitize Lowell annual Viola Awards were a night to Discovery Telescope documents. remember, and not just because of the food. Lowell Observatory took home not one, but two Violas: one for Excellence in Volunteer Program Placemaking, and another for creating a Hiatus Community Impact - Organization. Excellence in Placemaking was By Mary DeMuth, Retired Volunteer awarded to the Giovale Open Deck Coordinator Observatory (GODO) and accepted by Dave Sawyer, Technical Project Manager. The Covid-19 pandemic has The Community Impact - Organization affected all aspects of work and award was given to Lowell for leadership in the Flagstaff Lunar Legacy 18-month- engagement on Mars Hill. On long event, which marked the 50-year Presenter Andy Garcia, Chair of the City March 12, Director Jeff Hall anniversary of the first Apollo Moon of Flagstaff’s Beautification and Public Art announced the suspension of the landing with a celebration of Flagstaff’s Commission (back row left) stands with volunteer program, to coincide Team Lowell representatives Dave Sawyer, role in training the Apollo astronauts. This Jim Cole, Samantha Gorney, and Sarah with Lowell’s temporary closure to award was accepted by Kevin Schindler, Burcher with the Viola Award for Excellence the public beginning the following Lowell historian. in Placemaking. day. Throughout this suspension, the observatory has maintained contact with volunteers and staff Become a Catalyst for with weekly updates from Dr. Hall and an array of online offerings Astronomical Research featuring our Public Program, Science, and Marketing and The Slipher Society is several months old and Communications teams. We’re already making a difference! So far, Slipher looking forward to the day when Society members have funded five Lowell we can safely reopen, reconvene, astronomy research projects.