May 5th, 2009

9:30pm

My visit at the Lowell Observatory was something I had planned months in advance by reserving a private program including night viewing with the telescopes and multimedia shows. This being said,... I had no idea to the adventure that I was about to experience!

The visits were organized to welcome groups of thirty and more. It so happened that for the particular day (the only one available during my vacation in Flagstaff) no other person had signed up! In the end, Steven and I were the only ones there with the company of two student astronomers! The four of us first sat in a huge multimedia room for some information. When the main astronomer saw my eyes glaze over as he was talking about the different phases of the moon, he asked me, "You know this already right?" I nodded then proceeded to tell him about where I lived and what I had learned so far. When he realized that I knew my way around the night sky and was a little familiar with the jargon, he shut off the monitor and motioned Steven and I to step into the observatory room where the huge 24 inch Clark Telescope awaited us!

I held my breath,... It was in this very observatory that the dwarf planet Pluto was first discovered, where the rings to Uranus were first explored, and where the initial spark that lead to the eventual realization that the universe was expanding was found! For a person passionate about astronomy, one who believes that the search for truth resides within the deep reaches of ourselves, our relationship with others and in our exploration of the natural world (near and far) that lies around us,... I felt as if I was on "holy" ground! When the two student astronomers invited me to look through the telescope, I actually trembled!

Ben, the top student who is close to graduating with honors from his field of study took the time to explain the surroundings of Arcturus (a star that I was less informed about). He was quite pleased with his new visitor (moi), stating that, "most people that came to the observatory held little to no information or enthusiasm which made the visits very cut and dry". He went on to say that discussing the night sky with visitors at a deeper level seldom happened and that he thought that my excitement / knowledge was quite refreshing. When I admitted to preferring looking at deep sky objects to planets he knew exactly what to show me,... Messier 80! I had seen it before but NEVER like this!