Flagstaff’s Lowell Observatory recently opened the long-awaited Marley Foundation Astronomy Discovery Center. Hundreds of visitors flocked to the new exhibits, which aim to connect people to the universe in unexpected ways. You can feel the texture of Saturn’s rings, jam to the music of interstellar space, and even smell moondust.
A brass band ushers in the ribbon cutting ceremony. Three years of construction and $53 million led up to this moment. Despite gray skies and a few flakes of snow, a large crowd is on hand to give a resounding cheer as the doors officially open.
Lowell Observatory has been an active research facility for more than a century (it’s famous for the discovery of Pluto in 1930) but executive director Amanda Bosh says bringing in the public is part of their mission, too.
"It’s not enough to just learn things about the universe," Bosh says. "If you don’t spread that out and tell everybody else about it, then it doesn’t benefit people as much as it could, so that is a big part of who we are and what we do."
For Bosh, it’s about expanding perspectives: "Connecting to the night sky connects us to who we are, how we came to be humans."
That theme is clear in the new Stardust gallery’s interactive exhibits. One family creates a hip hop mix out of the sounds of space, while nearby Haley Johnson uses a touchscreen to design a space mission to Saturn’s largest moon Titan, exclaiming in delight when the activity is finished, "I did it! I completed my research!"
For some in the crowd, Lowell has always been a treasured part of the community. Sandra and Saylor Darling are newlyweds who celebrated their engagement here on Mars Hill.
"It's so beautiful," Sandra says of the new discovery center.
"This is making me so proud," Saylor adds. "We're going to invite all our friends back."
They each sniff a silver tube that offers a whiff of the hydrocarbons found in moondust, and have wildly different reactions: "It's almost pleasant," Sandra says, while Saylor interrupts: "I think it's horrid."
Samantha Christensen of Lowell Observatory led the design of the new exhibits. "Everyone learns in a different way, so the more senses we can engage, we figure, the better," she says.
She gestures to the new children’s gallery, where joyful chaos reigns as kids make water vapor rings, toss parachutes into wind tunnels, and launch model rockets. One girl dissolves into giggles when her rocket falls to pieces during launch. Christensen says the hands-on activities teach the scientific process: "It's an opportunity to fail," she says, "but fail in a fun way."
Twelve-year-old Metta Kuehn says the rocket launching is one of her favorite activities: "You pressurize it," she explains, "and then you hit a button and the rocket shoots. It's really loud but really fun."
Kuehn has big dreams for her future: she wants to be the first person on Mars.
And the kids here may be just starting out with a passion for science, but some grownups in the crowd are coming from illustrious careers. Famed comet hunter David Levy says he first saw Lowell in 1967 before it had a visitor center.
"Coming here today is like being wrapped in a cloud of passion and love for the night sky," Levy says. "I’ve been happy as a clam all day."
As night falls, visitors make their way to the open-air planetarium on the building’s roof. It’s just like any planetarium except the starry skies are real, not a projection.
Lowell’s historian Kevin Schindler says this is his favorite part: "Seeing people come up here every night, and listening to them ooh and aah—even if there’s no program or anything, just looking up and seeing the night sky, or seeing the Milky Way in the night sky and being stunned by it."
Schindler says they’re all making their own discoveries, just as astronomers have done on this spot for more than a century.
"The need to explore and to look up and wonder, that’s part of us," he says.
A gasp rises from the crowd as they learn a bright star overhead is the planet Saturn. It’s what every scientist and educator at Lowell was waiting for: that moment of awe.
