The 24-Inch Clark Telescope

This refracting telescope was purchased by Percival Lowell for $20,000 in 1896. It was built by the skilled telescope maker Alvan Clark in Boston, then hauled to Flagstaff by train. Around the turn of the century, Percival Lowell used this telescope to study Mars. In the early 1900s, V.M. Slipher used it to discover the first evidence that our universe is expanding. During the 1960s, it was used to create base drawings for a Moon mapping project sponsored by the Air Force, and Apollo astronauts got their first good views through the Clark Telescope of where they would make their historic landing on the Moon.

"On July 23rd, 1896 ... in this small corner of America, an historic event was about to take place, unkown to most people at the time. On the night of the 23rd, Percival Lowell, ... installed a 24-inch diameter objective lens in a 32 foot long tube and viewed the dark Arizona skies. Hence began a tradition of telescope viewing that has continued for 100 years, and has no hint of stopping soon