historic clarkhe 24 inch refracting telescope dome of lowell observatory. this was established in 1894, before arizona with even a state. lowell came from back east from a wealthy family, got interested in astronomy, and realized if he was going to build an observatory back east, it was not ideal because it was the 1890's, you had the proliferation of electric lights that were shining on the skies and making it more difficult to see stars and planets and such. so what he decided to do was go to the american southwest. he sent an assistant out here, andrew douglas, to map sites around the territory, and they chose flagstaff. skies,ff has very dark and was at a higher elevation, 7008. the higher elevation -- 7000 feet. the higher the elevation, the less air you have to look through. the air is like a swimming pool. everything is kind of fuzzy because the water is bending that light -- air does the same thing. so the more air you look through the more distorted stars are going to look through. igher are h elevations, the dark side, great location. up on mars h