A visit to Mars Hill.

This article discusses Lowell Observatory, past and present. The past and future of astronomical observing enjoy a harmonious relationship on Mars Hill, home of Lowell Observatory, just outside Flagstaff, Arizona. Astronomy enthusiasts flock to this location to see the famous, aged chair where Percival Lowell sat for hours searching unsuccessfully for his" Planet X," and where, according to legend, his ghost continues to scour the skies for that phantom planet. He used the Alvan Clark 24-inch refracting telescope at Lowell Observatory and the Brashear spectrograph, which he had spent eleven years refining. Slipher was one of a small group of professional astronomers recruited by wealthy Boston patrician and amateur astronomer Percival Lowell (1855-1916) to staff Lowell Observatory. After recovering from a long, debilitating, and costly legal battle with Lowell's widow surrounding details of Lowell's will, the observatory and its staff renewed its commitment to finding Lowell's Planet X. in the late 1920s, the observatory hired a" young man from Kansas," Clyde Tombaugh, to renew the search for Planet X.. INSETS: WHEN THE BOSS IS AWAY …;FUTURE FULL OF DISCOVERY.