Geophysical Tour

Here are some images from my recent trip to the northern part of my state. We are fortunate in Arizona that we are not only close to the frontier of country & culture, but other worlds, as well

Meteor crater panorama; distance aross is 1.4Km (270 degrees)

View of an extinct volcano from the meteor crater

clouds in the central Grand Canyon (Earth's largest canyon; Valle Marinaris on Mars is 8x larger!)

western canyon site of native American guano mining operation; canyon is only 1.2Km deep at this point.

tomb of Percival Lowell, founder of Lowell Observatory, where Pluto was discovered

Rotunda @ Lowell Observatory, featuring some of Lowell's first telescopes

Commemorative plaque on observatory building where Pluto was discovered; Lowell Observatory is still privately owned!

the actual telescope used by Clyde Tombaugh to capture the first images of Pluto

the photo comparator used to compare the photographic plates, thus discovering Pluto's motion (can you see the manufacturer's nameplate?)

public opinion about Pluto's status...

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I like specialy of the "painting" view by the opening of the wall (why is that).

I think the placement of the "window" in the wall was deliberate; in any case, it was a nice view! I think I need to replace the panorama shot though, it seems to have compressed a bit too much, lacking detail...