DESTINATION Lowell Observatory

A woman asks about the "red shift." Terms like "LONEOS," "Kuiper Belt," "Io" and "interferometer" bounce around the room. It's enough to make a mere terrestrial's head spin. When a New Jersey couple admit they didn't know that Clyde Tombaugh discovered the planet Pluto here in 1930, public program assistant David Portree explains they will see Tombaugh's 13-inch Pluto Discovery Telescope. Portree details astronomer V.M. Slipher's spiral nebulae discoveries, current star clusters and comet observations. He also describes the Lowell Observatory Near Earth Object Search (LONEOS), in which astronomers travel 15 miles southeast of Flagstaff to the observatory's Anderson Mesa site to look for asteroids that veer close to Earth.

Then the tour group heads outdoors for a short climb up a paved path leading to the 40-foot dome that holds the historic Clark telescope. Along the way, Portree tells visitors that Lowell died in 1916 and had his remains buried here on Mars Hill in a granite mausoleum covered in cobalt blue glass tiles.

Inside the Clark telescope dome, Portree pulls the 107-year-old telescope in a semicircle, demonstrating how it moves the same as it did in Lowell's day-manually. Pointing out historical trivia, he shows the group the dustcovers for the 6-inch and 12-inch lenses.

"When Lowell died in 1916, he left his entire estate to his widow, Constance Savage Lowell," Portree explains. "Constance didn't want to spend her money on lens covers, so the dustcover for the 6-inch lens is a saucepan stolen from the kitchen of the observatory's second director, V.M. Slipher. Likewise, a frying pan covers the 12-inch lens. Slipher's wife was a little upset over the misappropriation of her cooking utensils."

The 8-ton dome is made of native ponderosa pine. The dome rotates with the help of three electric motors and 24 Ford pickup truck tires from 1954. The Slipher Building and Rotunda Library holds Lowell's private book collection and studies of Mars, Slipher's spectrograph and information about how NASA used the observatory to map the moon for the Apollo Space Program.

Outside, the Pluto Walk, a 350-foot paved path, heads to the Pluto Discovery Telescope. The walk represents a scale model of the Earth's solar system, where 1 inch equals 1 million miles. Signs illustrate the planets' distances and sizes in relationship to the sun. The Pluto Walk begins at our sun and ends at the Pluto Dome with the sign for the ninth planet, Pluto. Inside,

Portree explains Tombaugh's Pluto discovery.

Back at the visitor center, the "Tools of the Astronomer" exhibit presents the equipment and techniques of modern astronomers and also provides information on astronomy careers and hobbies. A gift shop focuses on science-related items, including an impressive collection of astronomy books.

Perhaps the most popular attraction of Lowell Observatory comes at night, when visitors line up for a chance to look through the Clark telescope. Night tours are held yearround, weather permitting. According to public programs director Jeff Hall, astronomers pick out the most interesting celestial objects for public viewing, which can range from planets, like Mars, Jupiter and Saturn, to the moon, star clusters or other nebulae.

"We keep the telescopes open for as long as people want to stand in line," Hall says.

Before folks meander up the path to the telescopes, amateur astronomer Michael Hill presents information on the current night sky. He explains how to find constellations, how to spot satellites moving across the sky and the role heavenly objects played in Indian and ancient Greek cultures. This night the astronomers have chosen a galactic star cluster called M5 located 25,000 light years from Earth. He explains that the light seen through the telescope lens left M5 approximately 25,000 years ago.

"Who knows what it looks like today," Hill says. One can only imagine.

Lowell may not have considered himself a dreamer, but no doubt he had vision: "Imagination is as vital to any advance in science as learning and precision. . Let me warn you to beware of two opposite errors: of letting your imagination soar unballasted by facts, but on the other hand of shackling it so solidly that it loses all incentive to rise.' There's no doubt that Percival Lowell had a hand in some of man's most significant discoveries about our universe during the last 100 years. And from Mars to M5, Lowell would expect today's dreamers and stargazers to keep looking for whatever's out there. His observatory offers us the chance. AH

OTHER POINTS OF INTEREST IN FLAGSTAFF

MUSEUM OF NORTHERN ARIZONA See regional art celebrating the cultures of Hopi, Navajo, Zuni and ancient people. Discover northern Arizona's dinosaurs, geology, fossils and native plants, as well as the history of the Colorado Plateau; Flagstaff, 774-5213.

RIORDAN MANSION STATE HISTORIC PARK The home of two pioneering Flagstaff families features Arts-andCrafts-style architecture and more than 30 rooms filled with original artifacts; Flagstaff, 779-4395.

SUNSET CRATER VOLCANO NATIONAL MONUMENT Trails and scenic vistas allow visitors to see the 900-yearold volcanic crater up close. See how the volcano created "rivers" of black, hardened lava and surrounded the area with ash and cinders; Flagstaff, 526-0502.

WALNUT CANYON NATIONAL MONUMENT Hike down a paved trail in this gorge to view cliff dwellings nearly a thousand years old. The visitors center museum houses the ancient residents' artifacts, showing how they worked and played; Flagstaff, 526-3367.

WUPATKI NATIONAL MONUMENT Once home to ancestral Puebloan people, four ancient pueblos sit atop a mesa; Flagstaff, 679-2365.

OLD MAIN ART GALLERY On the Northern Arizona University campus, Old Main houses galleries featuring historic furniture, silverworks and art, plus a collection of contemporary art; Flagstaff, 523-3471.

ELDEN PUEBLO ARCHAEOLOGICAL PROJECT The project offers programs in archaeological concepts, skills and practices through a variety of activities at the Elden Pueblo; Flagstaff, 527-3475.

THE ARBORETUM AT FLAGSTAFF With 200 acres at an elevation of 7,150 feet, the botanical garden offers a wildflower meadow and the aromatic scent of herbs and nature trails; Flagstaff, 774-1442.

ARIZONA SNOWBOWL Go to ski in mid-December to mid-April; off-season, ride the scenic skyride up the mountain for a breathtaking view; Flagstaff, 779-1951; snow report, 779-4577.

ARIZONA HISTORICAL SOCIETY PIONEER MUSEUM Changing exhibits depict the history of Flagstaff, [CLOCKWISE FROM LEFT] The plaza in the heart of downtown Flagstaff is a favorite gathering spot for residents and visitors. Old Main Art Gallery displayed the stone sculptures of minimalist Robert Siracusa in a visiting exhibit. The stone pueblos at Wupatki National Monument were homes to Indians and later to the first park caretakers.

including displays on logging, livestock, railroads and more. Standing exhibits feature U.S. Route 66 and the Arizona Rough Riders; Flagstaff, 774-6272.

alongthe by SAM NEGRI HAL EMPIE, Small-town Artist With a Big-time Following

LAST MARCH, HAL EMPIE, Arizona's acclaimed pharmacist-artist whose career spanned most of the 20th century, faced the easel in his Tubac, Arizona, studio, daubing his brush at a painting that was about two-thirds done. That night, his daughter Ann Groves stopped by to hear him describe in detail his plans for the next day. The notion that there would always be a next day seemed a natural extension of Empie's wit and optimism, but the painting he was working on was never completed. The morning after his daughter stopped in to say goodnight, Empie collapsed and died. It was March 26, 2002-his 93rd birthday. Hal Empie-his full name was Hart Haller Empie - was a major contributor to the early issues of Arizona Highways, and his illustrations helped develop the magazine's international renown. He was born near Safford three years before Arizona became a state. Like many others in Territorial Arizona, Empie's family lived for several years in a little adobe house with a hard-packed dirt floor. Growing up in modest circumstances in a rural community apparently contributed to his powerful work ethic and his intuitive sense of the look and feel of the Arizona landscape. He started drawing and painting when he was very young, eventually polished his technique and developed an unmistakable style. His only formal training consisted of two three-week seminars offered by Frederic Taubes, an artist and prolific author of how-to books. At 20 years old, Empie worked as both a pharmacist and an artist. The Arizona Historical Foundation says he was the youngest licensed pharmacist in Arizona history. In 1937, he purchased his pharmacy in Duncan, on the Arizona-New Mexico border east of Safford, later calling it Art Gallery Drug. The name made sense. His drugstore was also his studio. Between filling prescriptions, Empie painted landscapes, which he later framed and displayed over the soda fountain. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, who grew up on a ranch on the outskirts of Duncan, remembered Empie and his store in the foreword she wrote for Arizona's Hal Empie, a biography written by Evelyn S. Cooper. "Among my fondest memories of 'going to town,'" O'Connor wrote, "were the inevitable stops at the Art Gallery Drug to see Hal, and often Louise [Empie's wife], to feel their warmth and hospitality, to have a root beer float seated at the soda fountain, and to look at the many Empie paintings displayed on the walls of the drugstore. The colors glowed. The scenes of local areas were dramatically depicted. On the way out, if we had a little money left, we would buy one of Hal Empie's amusing Kartoon Kards." Empie's cartoons for many years were as much his trademark as were his oil paintings. In his cartoons he had great fun spoofing cowboys, horses, cows, tourists and anything else that could be loosely associated with Arizona's flora and fauna. On November 3, 2000, he wrote a note to Cooper, who was at work on his biography. He included his "selfportrait," a cartoon character wearing a cowboy hat with a hole in the crown. Empie, using his own spellings, wrote, "Because I have russeled cows in my spare time, the sheriff often decorated my sombrero with bullet holes." As an afterthought he wrote, "I am not serving time at present." In the 1930s, Arizona Highways editors wanted to break up long columns of type, so they turned to cartoonists to liven the pages. Hal Empie's cartoons did just that. In the days before interstate highways, Empie's drugstore in Duncan was on the main road between El Paso and Phoenix. His postcards sold for a nickel, and they went like hotcakes. For his first card, he drew a man running across the desert with a rattlesnake hooked to the back of his pants. Empie's caption read, "Duncan, Arizona. Just rattlin' through." Empie's reservoir of stories was bottomless. For all his success, Empie never became pompous. He said the greatest compliment he ever received came from a 5-year-old boy who was watching him paint. "Mister," the boy said, "you sure stay in your lines good!"