Roger Putnam which was under-utilized due to poor viewing conditions and low elevation. Putnam led the negotiations which permanently moved the telescope to Lowell Observatory's Anderson Mesa site (in Arizona). The telescope was operated by Lowell Observatory in partnership with the Ohio State University and Ohio Wesleyan, and purchased by Lowell in 1998. Putnam brought Perkins's telescope to the Arizona observatory as well. The Observatory's existing telescope had cracked in 1964 while staff attempted to update its optical system. The Perkins mirror did not stay at Lowell for long, returning to Perkins' control in 1969. The Lowell Observatory retained the mount, however.
Lowell Observatory Neptune, a search for extrasolar planets, a decades-long study of the brightness stability of the sun, and a variety of investigations of star formation and other processes in distant galaxies. In addition, the Observatory staff designs and builds custom instrumentation for use on Lowell's telescopes and elsewhere. For example, Lowell staff built a sophisticated high-speed camera for use on the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA). SOFIA is a joint project of the United States and German space agencies and consists of a telescope on board a Boeing 747 SP. Sources Lowell Observatory Lowell Observatory is an astronomical observatory in