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All posts by Sarah
A Night of Discovery
Orpheum Theatre
February 18, 2021
5-8:30pm
Lowell Observatory presents a Night of Discovery, commemorating the anniversary of Clyde Tombaugh’s discovery of the icy world Pluto on February 18, 1930. This is the keynote event of the 3rd Annual I Heart Pluto Festival.
Meet Eminent Scientists
Headlining this year’s event is a panel discussion (“Exploring the Universe Near and Far”) that looks at our human fascination with exploration and discovery, from nearby nooks on Earth to the far reaches of the universe. The panel includes:
- Dr. Donald Johanson, discoverer of the fossil hominid Lucy
- Dr. Alan Stern, Principal Investigator of the New Horizons mission to Pluto and beyond *Note: Dr. Stern will be joining the event virtually
- Dr, Nancy Currie-Gregg, astronaut who flew 4 times in space
- Dr. Cathy Olkin, Deputy Principal Investigator of the Lucy mission to study asteroids
- Alden Tombaugh, son of Pluto discoverer Clyde Tombaugh
- Dr. Jeffrey Hall, Lowell Observatory Director, will moderate the discussion
The program will be followed by a panelist book signing. Books by several of the panelists, as well as commemorative posters and other items to be signed, will be available for purchase onsite.
Explore Space Art Displays
The International Astronomical Artists Association (IAAA) will display a variety of space-themed art throughout the Orpheum. The IAAA consists of artists and scientists-artists who implement and participate in astronomical and space art projects.
Quench Your Thirst with Lowell Observatory Lager
Back by popular demand is a Pluto-themed beer created specially for this event by Mother Road Brewing Company, Arizona’s third largest independent craft brewer. This year’s beer is Lowell Observatory Lager! Other drinks—both alcoholic and non-alcoholic—as well as food will be available for purchase throughout the evening.
Why the Orpheum?
Why hold this event at the Orpheum Theatre? Because Clyde Tombaugh watched a movie here on the night of his great discovery in 1930. Plus, the Orpheum’s accessibility, comfort, and old-time charm, make it a perfect venue.
Tickets: Available at the door or in advance at https://wl.seetickets.us/event/A-NightofDiscovery/459232?afflky=OrpheumTheater. Cost is $10 per adult, $7 per youth ages 5-17 (plus tax and sales fee).
Flagstaff, AZ. – Paleoanthropologist Dr. Donald Johanson, planetary scientist Dr. Alan Stern, and astronaut Dr. Nancy Currie-Gregg headline Lowell Observatory’s 3rd Annual I Heart Pluto Festival, set for February 12-21, 2022 in Flagstaff. The event celebrates the 92nd anniversary of Clyde Tombaugh’s discovery of Pluto on February 18, 1930.
The Night of Discovery keynote presentation will see notable scientists on a panel discussion about the human fascination with exploration and discovery. Lowell Observatory Director Dr. Jeffrey Hall will moderate this discussion, set to take place on February 18 at Flagstaff’s Orpheum Theater.
Night of Discovery Panelists
Dr. Donald Johanson, discoverer of the fossil hominid Lucy
Dr. Alan Stern, Principal Investigator of the New Horizons mission to Pluto and beyond
Dr. Nancy Currie-Gregg, astronaut who flew four times in space
Dr. Cathy Olkin, Deputy Principal Investigator of the Lucy mission to study asteroids
Alden Tombaugh, son of Pluto discoverer Clyde Tombaugh
Other highlights of the 10-day festival include a science speaker series, space art show hosted by the International Association of Astronomical Artists, and special Pluto-themed products promoted by businesses throughout Flagstaff, such as the “Lowell Observatory Lager” limited edition beer by Mother Road Brewery.
The Arizona Office of Tourism provided major funding through a Visit Arizona Initiative grant. The event’s lead local sponsor is Civano Coffee House, a local coffee house and nightclub on South San Francisco Street.
Community-Wide Celebrations
In addition to Mother Road Brewery, several companies throughout Flagstaff are joining in during the month of February to celebrate the anniversary of Pluto’s discovery:
- Historic Brewing Company will serve a custom Pluto cocktail.
- Fratelli’s Pizza will feature Pluto-themed specials.
- FlagTag AZ is creating a special “Find Planet X” axe-throwing game.
- Karma Sushi will serve a Pluto Roll.
- Northern Arizona DX Association will host a special radio contest.
- Quality Connections will offer discounts on space-saving office equipment with coupon “PLUTO”.
- Additional Flagstaff community partners are invited to participate.
All events will be in-person*, and several will also be livestreamed. A full schedule of events and speakers will be available in January.
A VIP experience featuring a bus/walking tour of Pluto-related sites in Flagstaff will also be available. Seating is limited, and reservations are required.
Tickets may be purchased at the event webpage at iheartpluto.org
*Note: All in-person guests aged 12+ will need to show results from a negative COVID-19 lab test within 72 hours of visiting, or provide proof of full vaccination in lieu of a negative test. In-person events are subject to change or cancellation due to COVID-related restrictions that could arise. Please read more about Lowell Observatory’s COVID-19 protocols at lowell.edu/covid-19.
PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 27, 2021
***Contact details appear below***
***Text and images: https://lowell.edu/lowell-observatory-presents-2nd-annual-i-heart-pluto-festival/
***Event website: https://iheartpluto.org/
LOWELL OBSERVATORY PRESENTS 2ND ANNUAL I HEART PLUTO FESTIVAL
Flagstaff, AZ. – Lowell Observatory is pleased to present a celebration 91 years in the making: the 2nd Annual I Heart Pluto Festival. Retired NASA astronauts Nicole Stott and Ron Garan and New Horizons scientists Dr. Alan Stern and Dr. Will Grundy headline the event. This free, all-virtual celebration runs from February 13-18 and features a variety of talks, tours, an art show, and a ham radio event. The festival falls on the anniversary of Clyde Tombaugh’s February 18, 1930 discovery of Pluto at Lowell Observatory.
Stott twice flew to the International Space Station (ISS) and also worked aboard the Aquarius undersea habitat. Garan is a retired test pilot and fighter pilot who also twice flew to the ISS and lived on the Aquarius. Both are accomplished artists, and on February 15 they will take part in an open discussion about how they combine the awe and wonder of their experiences to inspire people around the world.
Stern, who led the groundbreaking mission to Pluto that revealed the true nature of this tiny world, kicks off the celebration on February 13 with the presentation “Why Pluto is a Planet, the Embarrassment of the IAU, and Why They Had it Coming”. Grundy is a planetary scientist at Lowell Observatory and will speak on February 16 about our current understanding of Pluto and its system of moons.
Clyde Tombaugh discovered Pluto on February 18, 1930, and since then scientists, artists, and the public have been enamored with this tiny world. Lowell Observatory created the I Heart Pluto Festival in 2020 to celebrate this scientific and cultural heritage. The event will be held around the discovery day anniversary each year, culminating in the 2030 centennial of Tombaugh’s monumental find.
The 2021 schedule is below. For complete I Heart Pluto Festival program details, including how to join the events, see https://iheartpluto.org/
February 13
*6-7 pm MST, “Why Pluto is a Planet, The Embarrassment of the IAU, and Why They Had It Coming”. Presentation by New Horizons Principal Investigator Dr. Alan Stern.
February 14
*6-7 pm MST, “Who was Clyde Tombaugh?” Discussion with Clyde Tombaugh’s son Al, Astronomy Editor-in-Chief Dave Eicher, and astronomy historian Bill Sheehan; moderated by Lowell Observatory Historian Kevin Schindler.
February 15
*5-6 pm MST, “Inspiration of the Cosmos”. Discussion with astronauts Nicole Stott and Ron Garan; moderated by Lowell Observatory Sole Trustee W. Lowell Putnam.
*6-7 pm MST, “Uncovering Pluto”. Behind-the-scenes Pluto tour of Lowell Observatory with Lowell Observatory educators.
February 16
*6-7 pm MST, “Pluto After New Horizons”. Presentation by Lowell Observatory Planetary Scientist Dr. Will Grundy.
February 17
*6-7 pm MST, “When the Moon Hits Your Eye”. Tour of the U.S. Naval Observatory Flagstaff Station with facility scientists; special welcome by Charon discoverer Jim Christy and his wife (and Charon namesake) Charlene.
*7-8 pm MST, “Imagining Pluto: The Artist’s Journey to Envision Pluto Through the Ages”. Discussion with International Association of Astronomical Artists members Dr. Dan Durda, Marilynn Flynn, and Ron Miller; moderated by IAAA member Jon Raimer.
February 18
*5:30-6 pm MST, “Family Night at Pluto”. Family activities with Lowell Observatory Educator Victoria Girgis.
*6-7 pm MST, “Following in Clyde’s Footsteps: Pluto Discovery Day Tour”. Flagstaff tour with Lowell Observatory Historian Kevin Schindler.
*7-8 pm MST, “We Heart Pluto”. Discussion with Clyde Tombaugh’s son Al, Astronomy Editor-in-Chief Dave Eicher, New Horizons Principal Investigator Dr. Alan Stern, former Flagstaff Mayor Coral Evans; moderated by Lowell Observatory Director Dr. Jeff Hall.
Related Events
February 13-18
*“I Heart Pluto Art Show”, with members of the International Association of Astronomical Artists.
February 13-21
*“Hamming it Up”, with members of the Northern Arizona DX Association.
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Media Contact
Kevin Schindler, Lowell Observatory
(928) 607-1387
kevin@lowell.edu
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About Lowell Observatory
Lowell Observatory is a private, nonprofit 501(c)(3) research institution, founded in 1894 by Percival Lowell atop Mars Hill in Flagstaff, Arizona. The observatory has been the site of many important discoveries, including the first detection of large recessional velocities (redshift) of galaxies by Vesto Slipher in 1912-1914 and Clyde Tombaugh’s discovery of Pluto in 1930. Today, the observatory’s 17 astronomers use ground-based telescopes around the world, telescopes in space, and NASA planetary spacecraft to conduct research in diverse areas of astronomy and planetary science. Lowell Observatory currently operates multiple research instruments at its Anderson Mesa station, east of Flagstaff, and the 4.3-meter Lowell Discovery Telescope near Happy Jack, Arizona. The observatory also welcomes more than 100,000 guests per year to its Mars Hill campus in Flagstaff, Arizona, for a variety of educational experiences, including historical tours, science presentations, and telescope viewing.
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Percival Lowell postulated the existence of a planet beyond Neptune and began to search for it in 1905.
He spent his remaining 11 years in a mathematical and observational search for the elusive “trans-Neptunian” planet. Upon Lowell’s death in 1916, the search was suspended while the Observatory went through protracted legal wrangling about Lowell’s estate. In 1927, once the estate was finally settled, Percival’s brother — Harvard University President A. Lawrence Lowell — provided the funds needed to construct the telescope and dome you can still see every day here on guided tours.
The new telescope was completed in 1929, and the Observatory hired a farm boy from Kansas named Clyde Tombaugh, who had impressed director V. M. Slipher with some unsolicited sketches, to help renew the search.
The process was laborious: Tombaugh would photograph the same part of sky several days apart and use a Zeiss Blink Comparator to detect the motion of a nearby planet against the more distant “fixed” stars. Once Tombaugh got going toward the end of 1929, the discovery came remarkably fast: on February 18, 1930, he detected the distant planet on plates taken on the 23rd and 29th of January.
The discovery was announced March 13, 1930. On the evening of March 12, director V.M. Slipher sent a telegram to the Harvard College Observatory. The telegram’s message was used to create Harvard College Observatory Announcement Card 108, which officially announced the new planet’s discovery and was released on the 13th. Slipher wrote a more detailed account of the discovery and printed it as a Lowell Observatory Observation Circular, also releasing it on the 13th. Astronomer Carl Lampland was busy as well on this day. On behalf of the Observatory, he presented the Lowell Prize to the top mathematics student at Arizona State Teacher’s College at Flagstaff (today known as Northern Arizona University). The ceremony was in front of a 500-person audience in Ashurst Hall. As part of his speech, Lampland made the first public announcement of the new planet’s discovery. Unfortunately, few, if any, of the audience members heard this important message, since the soft-spoken Lampland could not be heard in the echo-filled, uncarpeted room. The announcement date was significant, for it had been March 13, 1781 that William Herschel discovered Uranus. Also, March 13, 1930 would have been Percival Lowell’s 75th birthday, a fitting tribute to the man whose inspiration led to the discovery of this new planet by Clyde Tombaugh.