Lowell Observatory comparing these measurements with a reference set of Sun-like stars. Lowell Observatory is building a major new reflecting telescope in partnership with Discovery Communications, located near Happy Jack, Arizona. This Discovery Channel Telescope (DCT), located within the Mogollon Rim Ranger District of the Coconino National Forest, is expected to be the fifth-largest telescope in the contiguous United States, and it will enable the astronomers of Lowell Observatory to enter new research areas deeper into outer space. The DCT and the research carried out there will be the focus of ongoing informative and educational television programs about astronomy, the sciences, and
United States Naval Observatory Flagstaff Station astronomical interferometer of the venerable and proven Michelson Interferometer design. As noted, the majority of interferometric science and operations are funded and managed by NOFS; however, Lowell Observatory and NRL join in the scientific efforts through their fractions of time to use the interferometer; 85% Navy (NOFS and NRL); and 15% Lowell. NPOI is one of the few major instruments globally which can conduct "optical" interferometry. See an illustration of its layout, at bottom. NOFS has used NPOI to conduct a wide and diverse series of scientific studies, beyond just the study of absolute astrometric positions of stars. Additional NOFS