Clyde Tombaugh peers through a 6-inch telescope at the University of Kansas, where he earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees. This photo was made in 1936, six years after Tombaugh’s discovery of Pluto at Flagstaff’s Lowell Observatory. | New Mexico State University
Staring Into Space
Looking through a hand magnifier, Clyde Tombaugh could barely see the stars on the image in front of him at Flagstaff’s Lowell Observatory. “My hand was shaking,” he later told his biographer. “I was…
Described by some as eccentric, Wilhelm Smith had connections to many better-known figures in the history of the American Southwest. | SHARLOT HALL MUSEUM
She’s a Relative Unknown
Sedona’s newest park honors the city’s history, and one of the city’s oldest buildings is its focus. But just beyond the borders of Ranger Station Park on Brewer Road stands a reminder of a lesser-…
Arizona Highways Policy on Generative AI
Arizona Highways does not publish words, images or other content created or edited, in whole or in part, by generative artificial intelligence (AI) tools such as ChatGPT. While we recognize that…
The aurora borealis fills the night sky over the Grand Canyon in a view from Desert View Watchtower, on the East Rim, in October 2024. Far below the rim, the Colorado River mirrors the red hues of the northern lights. | Rich Rudow
Red Sky At Night, Photographer's Delight
Galileo named the aurora borealis, or the northern lights, in the early 17th century, honoring Aurora, Roman goddess of the dawn, and Boreas, Greek god of the cold north wind. In the Southern…
The Grandview Hotel, which overlooked the Canyon at the South Rim’s Grandview Point, became part of Hearst’s portfolio in 1913. | Library of Congress
This Land Is My Land
William Randolph Hearst was a man accustomed to getting his way. Heir to a mining and ranching fortune worth hundreds of millions in today’s dollars, he was a media mogul, art collector and two-term…
Winter storm clouds clear from the Grand Canyon’s Brahma and Zoroaster temples, two of the gorge’s most recognizable landmarks. This view is from the South Rim’s Yavapai Point, just northwest of the Grand Canyon Visitor Center. By Adam Schallau
Grand Canyon
I am the Grand Canyon. My other names are Beethoven and Wagner,  Immortal as Sorrow, deathless as Love. My solitudes are limned in muted symphonies,  My Silences are organ-toned, And the Stars…
Since 1990, Tom Myers has been practicing medicine at the Grand Canyon, a place he calls the “greatest heat lab on Earth.” And in doing so, he’s become an authority on Canyon wilderness medicine. By John Burcham
What the Doctor Ordered
When Tom Myers was in the final months of an internal medicine internship at St. Joseph’s Hospital in Phoenix in the late 1980s, he feared he’d made a terrible mistake: Despite all he had endured to…
A dusting of snow covers the upper reaches of the Grand Canyon in a view from Toroweap Overlook, accessible via a long, rough dirt road on the North Rim. By Rich Rudow
Different Point of View
The Colorado River flows through Granite Gorge, a rugged section of the Canyon, at sunset in a view from the north side of the river. Granite Gorge is known for its…