Lowell (Martian crater) Lowell (Martian crater) The Lowell Crater is a large impact crater on Aonia Terra in the Thaumasia quadrangle of Mars. The crater is about 203 kilometers (127 miles) in diameter. Lowell Crater has a ring of mountains on its floor which gives it a sort of bull's eye appearance. Its nearby features include the craters Slipher to the north, Douglass to the east, and Coblentz to the southwest, the small mountain Aonia Mons to the west, and Aonia Planum to the southeast. Lowell Crater is named for Percival Lowell who built the Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona, in 1894, and
Percival Lowell elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1892. He moved back to the United States in 1893. Beginning in the winter of 1893–94, using his wealth and influence, Lowell dedicated himself to the study of astronomy, founding the observatory which bears his name. In 1904, Lowell received the Prix Jules Janssen, the highest award of the Société astronomique de France, the French astronomical society. For the last 23 years of his life astronomy, Lowell Observatory, and his and others' work at his observatory were the focal points of his life. World War I very much