Lowell Observatory, 1924 Mars Opposition

Copyright 2009, J. Hervat

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Percival Lowell (1855-1916) was an accomplished... more

by James Hervat

Title

Lowell Observatory, 1924 Mars Opposition

Artist

James Hervat

Medium

Painting - Digital

Description

Copyright 2009, J. Hervat

Click on image to see full-resolution detail views.
Percival Lowell (1855-1916) was an accomplished businessman, diplomat, author and mathematician, but he is best remembered as perhaps the quintessential amateur astronomer.

He established his observatory in 1894 on Mars Hill under the pristine Arizona skies near Flagstaff. His fascination with the planet Mars was a major impetus for the project. Having learned of the reported observations by Italian astronomer Giovanni Schiaparelli of faint, linear features on Mars ("canali"--Italian for "channels"-- was widely and incorrectly translated as "canals"), Lowell also thought he saw the lines through his telescope. He posited these as not natural features, but a planet-wide network of canals built by intelligent Martians.

The lines were neither Schiaparelli's channels nor Lowell's canals. Whether they were optical illusions or simply constructs of the imagination working at the limits of visual resolution, modern spacecraft imagery has shown that the perceived linear features, in fact, did not even exist. While Lowell was wrong on the subject of intelligent Martians, his own passion for the Red Planet fired the public's interest in Mars as well as astronomy in general.

Mars Hill is depicted here on a moonlit night in August 1924. Lowell's 24-inch Clark refractor is trained on Mars during its close approach to Earth that year. Lowell rests in his domed mausoleum seen peering over the hill at left. Today, his observatory, looking very much as it did over a century ago, remains a shrine to a Golden Age of visual astronomy to stargazers around the world.

Copyright 2009, James Hervat www.oceanofstarsgallery.com

NOTE: THE FINE ART AMERICA WATERMARK ON THE IMAGE DOES NOT APPEAR ON THE PRINTS.

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July 2nd, 2017