refracting mind and heart

West of Flagstaff is Mars Hill, which sets at an elevation of 7200ft overlooking the city. Built on the same location is the Lowell Observatory, whose primary mission for over 125 years is the study of the Solar System and its procession through time.

As I entered in through the front desk, all were informed a tour would be starting and to meet at the Rotunda Museum.

The guide lead everyone up a pathway southwest to a large white silo keeping the 24” Clark Refractor from the elements. I had a keen interest in this ocular, as Percival Lowell himself peered through it to observe the surface of Mars.

Lowell soon built a cultural consciousness of Martian life, so that to many people, such extraterrestrial intelligence was a foregone conclusion. This idea found its way into the minds of writers, where the developing genre of science fiction incorporated some of Lowell’s ideas.

Displays surrounding the telescope detail further notes, drawings, and models of the red planet.

Outside the back exit from the refractor is Percival Lowell’s Mausoleum, sculpted into form factors scientific and divine. A quote captures a wanderlust for all things planetary, philosophical, and cosmic.

EVERYTHING AROUND THIS EARTH WE SEE IS SUBJECT TO ONE INEVITABLE CYCLE OF BIRTH GROWTH DECAY… NOTHING BEGINS BUT COMES AT LAST TO END… THOUGH OUR OWN LIVES ARE TOO BUSY TO EVEN MARK THE SLOW NEARING TO THAT EVENTUAL GOAL… TODAY WHAT WE ALREADY KNOW IS HELPING TO COMPREHENSION OF ANOTHER WORLD. IN A NOT DISTANT FUTURE WE SHALL BE REPAID WITH INTEREST AND WHAT THAT OTHER WORLD SHALL HAVE TAUGHT US WILL REDOUND TO A BETTER KNOWLEDGE OF OUR OWN AND OF THE COSMOS OF WHICH THE TWO FORM PART…

THE EVOLUTION OF WORLDS. PERCIVAL LOWELL