It was an underwhelming experience overall. Definitely lots of opportunities to improve. Sunday is a waste of money majority exhibits closed. A guide is required to enter exhibits to see telescopes. Basically walk around and see the land and outside structures. Solar program is one telescope outside with a guide. However the inside solar structure with all the solar scopes closed in daylight and Sunday. I'm sitting waiting for Lowell tour hopefully it will great. read more

My god, it's full of stars... Pretty dang cool! And man, was it COLD the night we were there. A beautiful, crisp, clear night...however, that kept a lot of people away, so our experience was wonderful because it wasn't crowded. Looking at the Moon, and Jupiter and four of its moons through the telescopes was awesome, and the staff was helpful and patient. Only annoying thing was kids hogging the telescope, trying to take pictures of the Moon through the scope with their CELL PHONES pressed up against the eye piece. REALLY? Come on!! Geez... But, not to distract from Lowell itself; this is where Pluto was discovered, and they let you know that all over the place, which is kinda cool. Pluto has a place in my heart and should NEVER have been "demoted" as a planet. I learned there were NINE planets,and that's how it's gonna stay! read more

This place is really a treat! I always forget how small Flagstaff is, but this place is literally a 5 minute drive from NAU or downtown and is just a hop skip & jump off Route 66. I was visiting Northern AZ and decided to stop in here for an event our one night in Flagstaff. This observatory is unique in that you can walk around observing different constellations, planets and galaxies through different telescopes set up outside. We then went into the large rotunda for a show about what we could see with our naked eyes in the night's sky on that particular night in March. It was informative and fun and I can honestly now identify more constellations than before! We also visited the indoor Black Holes exhibit and I actually learned quite a bit about black holes! They offer a variety of other programs, but our night sky program was $11 per person, and the staff were friendly and knowledgable. I highly recommend this to anyone visiting Flagstaff! It's a great way to end the evening! They also offer daytime solar viewings, so it is possible to go back for more and different programs! read more

This place was fantastic. I loved that we got in free with our Arizona Science Center membership. The staff were helpful and friendly. The exhibits are interesting. The free tour (we took the Pluto tour) was fun and interesting for the whole family (age 6-48). We went back again at night to see venus and saturn through the telescopes. So so so cool!!! The grounds are beautiful. Such a nice ambiance. We can't wait to go back. read more

This is still a fun place to go and take your kids to for some old-fashioned educational fun. Why not, seeing how this is the birthplace of the discovery of the Planet Pluto. The ticket prices are reasonable and although it's not a whole huge place its a good place to learn about how we have advanced in astronomy for new people taking the tour. You will also get to view and appreciate a few nicely aged telescopes and gain a good knowledge about the man named after this observatory. Another nice feature this Planetarium does offer as well is that if you visit the facility earlier in the day and there is an evening observation later on you can keep the receipt from the earlier visit and gain free admission to the evening event. Its definately a place to go see while you're in Flagstaff. read more

I came here on my cross country journey August 2011. We got into Flagstaff in the evening, ate at Diablo Burger, and was told by a local that this place was open late to fans of star gazing and learning about space. And man, do I love outer space. I'm a super NASA nerd (their iPhone app is the bomb). We jumped at the chance, paid the inexpensive admission (yay, AAA membership!) and headed up with the small crowd to check out some awesome Saturn and Mercury action. They had three smaller telescopes set up, including their massive "Discovery Chanel Telescope". After waiting in line (yes! other space nerds chatting it up about stars and stuff!) and looking at the rings of Saturn we went to an informative lecture about Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs) which blew my mind away. Honestly, that lecture changed my life and I still think about CMEs to this day. Don't know what they are? Well, get yourself to this observatory or look them up on Wikipedia. Don't let the slight outdatedness of the observatory push you away. Take a look around and then get yourself outside to look at the cosmos through some amazing telescopes, listen to some awesome lectures, and be wowed at the knowledge that you are just a small piece in the universe. read more

This place is okay, it just isn't worth the price of admission. I live in Los Angeles an have been to the Griffith Observatory several times. This just doesn't compare. Flagstaff is a dark sky city, which made for some awesome views, and the staff here is so knowledgeable and friendly... But that's about all they've got going. Line at telescopes was mostly too long. Exhibits were okay, but not like the ones in LA. read more

We grabbed a groupon and headed to the Observatory in the evening. The majority of this is OUTSIDE so if you go in the winter, like we did, be sure to dress warm. The small museum on the Hubble telescope was pretty informative. I thought it was laid out weird though, no clear direction as to what you should look at first, etc. My brother is taking an astronomy class at ASU right now so he found everything super interesting. In another room there was a speaker who discussed a variety of things in very clear terms, so that no matter what background you came from you could understand. I thought his comments were very interesting and well worth the $ to visit. In fact, I would come back again with others just so I could hear his discussion on space again. I don't think that children would like this observatory, simply because the majority is either lecture and/or reading museum pieces. No interactive things at night. Only one telescope was open and it was showing Uranus. Loss of a star because it really wasn't that extraordinary, in my opinion. Yes, I could see a tiny blue dot, but so what? In all honesty, how am I to know if that was Uranus or a dot on the end of a lens. I know its not, I'm just saying it was anticlimactic. read more

I took the family during the day to walk through the Mars and Pluto tours. Both were very informative about the Observatory, Lowell, and the planets. My son and I returned that night for the telescopes as our earlier admission covered the evening activities. That was a great experience-- we got to see Saturn twice through the Clark telescope and various other planets, galaxies, etc. The "mini" planetarium presentation was also very good and ran the entire period. Staff was very knowledgable and friendly. I recommend a weekday if you can manage it. Line for the Clark telescope was long, but like others point out they stay open so everyone can see. I imagine the line was long because in my opinion, looking through this type of telescope is really cool. My son got to have a totally unique experience, which was my goal. A note: obviously, telescope activities are weather-dependent. June seemed an ideal month as it is typically dry and clear. Do the research on the weather and set your expectations accordingly. This place does get tour buses for the evening, so get there by 7pm (in June) before it gets crowded. Definitely a good value, and educational. Highlights: Solar observations during the day Nice facility Tours (Mars, Pluto, others) Evening activities, especially the telescope observations, until 10pm read more

Decent tour and good preservation of the equipment. Whatever you do, make sure you don't show up between 5:00 and 5:30. Tours start at the top of the hour and are modestly priced. I'm glad that they point out the looney side of Lowell himself. read more

The scientists or people who manage the telescopes looked little rude. I agree that it was late in the night at 8.45 PM, but I shouldn't have been allowed in the lab if the staff is tired. Now i feel a little cheated especially when we were a big party of 9 people. There were long Queue at the big telescope and all we get is a peak for about 15 seconds at some constellation. I went to 3-4 telescopes, no one explained what we were looking and what is the importance of the star clusters we were looking. Did not make much sense to me. read more

2nd time here. Programs are more geared for adults than for kids. My 9 year old (and others his age) seemed bored on the Pluto tour. You can get in for free if you have an annual pass from an associated Science Center like the one in Phoenix. read more

My husband loves to read about creepy things like deep space and black matter/holes and how we're all just insignificant specks of a sand in a universe too big to imagine. It mostly gives me anxiety to think about, but we decided to visit Lowell during our quick trip up north last weekend. I will say, unless your kid is a little older (at least 8-9 years old) and has a BIG interest in space (as one hilarious kid on our daytime tour did), leave them at home or wait until dark so they can peer through the telescopes. Otherwise, it seems like such a waste of money, as evidenced by the batshit insane family sitting next to us that brought 7(!) kids of varying ages with them who couldn't pay attention. The daytime tour of the history of the Observatory and discovery of Pluto was OK. It was interesting (and mildly claustrophobia-inducing) to climb up into the tower and see the original telescope that discovered Pluto. They also had a telescope set up to look at the sun, and seeing the solar flares was neat. But the real worth of our $12 admission came from coming back at night. The granddaddy big fancy telescope was open (technical name, for sure) and we got to view that along with three others...including the moon! We also sat on a presentation on what constellations were view-able that night, and then our guide took us out and pointed them out to us in the night sky with a laser. That was fun, and a lot better than my garbage astronomy class sophomore year of college. Bad flashbacks. Lines for the telescopes got long, but moved pretty fast. I think Yelp's 3 Star "A-OK" rating is perfect. read more

I wanted to visit at night to look through the telescopes. I accomplished this, but didn't get to experience the entire Observatory because it was so dark and I couldn't see the outdoor exhibits. I assume they keep it dark because it interferes with the telescopes. Basically, a complete visit to the Pluto-discovering Lowell requires a daytime visit and then a second nighttime stop. Although the night visit didn't afford many exhibits, I was happy to see Jupiter and four of its moons through the 16-inch McAllister telescope. There were two hobby scopes which the operators kept re-pointing so we could see many celestial bodies. All the telescopes are outdoors so dress accordingly because it can get cold at night in Flagstaff even though it is Arizona. The evening program had multiple lectures starting at the top of the hour throughout the night. read more

We had a little time to spare on our jaunt across the country, so we stopped by here on Saturday evening. It is tucked up on the hills above historic downtown Flagstaff; a windy road takes you up to the parking lot. With a AAA card, admission was only $9 per person. It was mildly busy when we arrived despite the cloud cover of the evening, which prevented use of the telescopes. However, we were still able to look around the museum and displays; having read previous Yelp reviews, we skipped out on the film. There was a short lecture on dinosaurs and asteroids presented by an awkward young scientist, which we sat through to be polite. Dan had been looking forward to seeing the telescope that Pluto was discovered on, and was a little disappointed that it wasn't open to the public in the evenings. This is a nice little observatory, and so conveniently close to the town. Definitely worth checking out and supporting. read more

This was a great find staying overnight in Flagstaff. We lucked out and hit it on 'science night'. If you are here you will get an astronomy lesson, time with the stars on the horizon explained, and a chance to look through the giant telescope. The astronomy lesson is on their portable planetarium which is kinda cool. Then they take you out to look through small telescopes and expelling the night sky you are seeing, including constellations. The giant telescope was pointed directly at the moon and was the most close up look at luna I have ever received. On science night there are kid science activities... yes dry ice and lectures. We got a lecture about Titans atmosphere and how not observing it all the time or only on occasion has us missing lots of big changes. It was a good geek date night and I even got a cheap physics t-shirt... i think it refers to Kelvin but I need to look it up. One last thing you get a pretty awesome view of Flagstaff at night. It was kinda cool. read more

Such a beautiful place!!!! We got there at 1pm and stayed the whole day!! It is small but very informative. At night gets super crowded with tons of families with children and date nights so expect to be in line for 30-40 minutes to be able to see through the telescope. They have staff all over the place making sure you are not bored in line and sharing their astronomical knowledge! At the moment the telescope that discover Pluto is under construction in a way but besides that very cool place to go and relax for a day. Have in mind they do not have a restaurant inside so if you plan to stay all day maybe take an hour or two in between to go downtown and grab some food! read more

If you have a Phoenix Science Center membership, you can get into Lowell Observatory for free, but at $6-$8/pp it is cheap (all day) entertainment. I recommend the Observatory for adults or kids. We went to Flagstaff to play in the snow. So regrettably we didn't get to tour the Observatory during the day, but when I mentioned to the front desk clerk that this was our first time, he made recommendations of what to do and see in order. All attractions, tours, shows, etc (on this day) started at the top of the hour. My 6 year old (who recently became very interested in science) loved this surprise. We arrived at the Observatory around 5:30 and stopped at the lookout just before the gate to take in the breath taking view of the city. Upon entering the Observatory we immediately went outside to walk the grounds before dark then caught the shows at the top of the hours- saving the big telescope viewing for last. This Observatory is Amazing! Most of the information was above my 6 yr old's head, but she was definitely interested in what she understood. When it was time to leave, she walked the gift shop for 30 minutes to pick out the book that she wanted- ending up with an adult information book with pictures and info on deep space. That same book's binding has already broken once and it has been her nighttime book of choice for days. She has gotten the space bug and is already asking for a telescope for her b-day so she can see the things that she saw at the Observatory. :) read more

I was disappointed in our visit on 10/19/19. It was me and my two sisters...one of which is really into the cosmos. So I thought she would enjoy this. She was visiting from out of state. I realize there is no guarantee to see objects in the sky due to the weather, but I had this booked for a couple of months so this was the date we had to attend, and the sky was fairly clear so that was good. Once there, the staff was nice, but we received inconsistent information regarding which telescopes were open ....and the times they were open for viewing etc. It was very COLD outside, and aside from the Power Point presentations....all the viewing is outside. I had the FALSE idea that we would be in an enclosed area looking through a telescope with an experienced 'Astro Physicist' providing information and maybe a presentation. Or, at least have things projected on a large screen. Standing in line and stepping up to a telescope in freezing weather was not what I imagined. I thought it would be a bit more formal....but nope. We had paid for the day pass, but didn't stay all day because we wanted to view planets / objects mostly. I had also paid for the After Hours Tour Clark pass for $30 a ticket....so we came back around 10:00pm to start the tour around 10:30pm....then we were told it wouldn't start until 11:00pm. No biggie. We walked up to the Clark telescope with about 16 others who had paid extra for this viewing too. We stood and waited in the cold for about 20 mins waiting for the other "guide" to show up. it was freezing by then. We were then told the tour and viewing was canceled. They knew this about 30 mins prior (the guide had revealed) so why they made us stand out there at 11:00pm at night in the freezing cold is beyond me. Further, as we waited and questions were asked, the 'Astro Physicist' was only able to answer a few. She told someone to just "google it." Huh? She clearly was an intern or something. All in all, we saw two TINY objects (not planets) earlier in the day. Literally dots. The only hi-light was seeing Saturn....although it was super tiny...it was cool. Their gift shop was a hi-light too. Overall I didn't think it was well organized and not as professionally done as I had expected. Hailey's presentation was very good however. I asked for a refund for the After Hours Clark and they did refund. Not sure I would go back, even in the summer. It was like going to the Zoo, and not seeing any animals. I even asked to look at the darn Moon, but she told me it was no longer in the sky. :-( read more

Don't miss out on this rare treat! If you're in Flagstaff, the observatory where Pluto was discovered is well worth the short trip through downtown and up Mars Hill. It was one of the highlights of our recent vacation there. There was plenty to keep our ten and thirteen year old kids interested for about 5 hours. Many of the buildings are closed for much of the day. Check out their website a few days before you go for the schedule. By planning ahead, we were able to go on the Pluto Tour, which was very informative and allowed us inside the Pluto Observatory to see the telescope. We also attended a lecture on the solar system and went on the Deep Space tour, offering more inside looks at the different telescopes there. All tours were included in admission price. Also there is an interactive exhibit for kids on asteroids that my kids loved. They could have spent more time there. There is also a large piece of part of the meteor that created Meteor Crater. And honestly, for the price, Lowell Observatory is a much better place to visit than Meteor Crater. Around 4 pm, they start pulling out the telescopes for public viewing of the Sun and the moon. In the evening, the historic Clarke telescope is open for viewing of either Saturn or the moon. There is nothing quite so amazing as peering through the eyepiece of a telescope that has contributed so much to astronomy over the last 100 years as that telescope! In the evening, they did science demonstrations with liquid nitrogen that kept us all entertained. And don't miss the gift shop, which is full of delights for all science geeks, young and old. I actually prefer this observatory to Griffith Observatory in L.A. Griffith is more of a tourist trap. If you take the tours at Lowell, you'll get a much better understanding of astronomy and science than you will from all the fancy exhibits at Griffith. Lowell is more personal if you take advantage of their tour schedule. read more

Great fun. Very knowledgeable and interesting staff. Would recommend to all age levels.

I love this place. It is a very pleasant walk with good information. I loved it. Gorgeous place to be. Very good for young kids to begin learning about space and discovery. I definitely recommend taking your children there. read more

Came here for "Plutopalooza" and all my kids could see were a nebula and Saturn. Highlight of this place is the dome building with amazing acoustics. FYI the guy with the 80's hair behind the counter is not very friendly. Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles, CA is the real deal, this place is not. read more

I came here just to do a little star-gazing with my aeronautics-obsessed husband. I left learning a lot about space exploration and our vast universe. If you go, be sure to visit the Rotunda Museum. We saw Neil Armstrong's signature in the guestbook. Too cool! The guide told us he was at Lowell giving a talk just last July. Unfortunately, it was too cloudy and rainy to come back for the 9 pm star gazing session. We still enjoyed walking the grounds and seeing all the exhibits. read more

Informative presentation: we learned all about why we should no longer think of Pluto as a planet and all the connectedness to this discovery. Viewing the nebulas through the 160 yr old telescope indoors and a smaller more modern one outdoors, the latter on a well thought out time lapse display screen were captivating. The science experiment demo is for children however and the constellation tour was a big disappointment. Our guide did not engage the full audience and had no set agenda. She voiced concern over the larger size of the group and was not well versed on her material. The gift shop rocks! Overall an evening visit overlooking Flagstaff at a fair cost was appreciated. read more

Don't go during the day like I did, there is nothing to do. I came back in the evening. The view over the top is amazing. You get to see through the telescopes. Walk around on a nature hike and learn more about the stars and planets. Idk I expected more. I wanted to have a great time as well as be educated. read more

+ Cool antique telescope. I got to see Saturn! + Exhibit on space suits. Watch the short movie. + Very enthusiastic, knowledgable staff. + Super close to downtown. + They will stay open long enough to let everyone get a chance to look through the telescope. Extra rad. read more

Just go to this place and have your inner little kid astronomer come out and enjoy this place. So much to do and see. Knowledgeable and friendly staff makes this place awesome. read more

Lowell Observatory - Meet my little friend - Observatories Near Me - Flagstaff, Arizona

Unfortunately, we went during monsoon season, so we were not able to actually view the sky via telescope. However, there were still activities and educational lectures that made for a great experience. Staff was knowledgeable and friendly. Just be aware that you may have to connect to the Lowell open wifi to call for an Uber or Lyft, depending on your phone carrier's coverage. read more

A fun way to spend an evening in Flag. It was cloudy, but we got lucky and they departed just in time for them to open up the big telescope. Lots of interesting displays here. I would have given it three stars, but the very friendly and engaging staff made this a delightful experience! read more

A great place to learn all about the solar system. Beautiful panoramic view of Flagstaff AZ region, America's first "Dark Night City". Look through the telescopes, see the universe. read more

This place is bitchin'! My wife and I visited this past June, and got to look through 3 different telescopes when we were there, including the huge, old grand-daddy one they've had there since the 1890's. In addition to some star clusters, we got to see Saturn and five of its many moons (Titan, Mimas, Enceladus, Tethys, and Rhea)! It was gorgeous! In addition to the cool little museum, we also got to see one of the employees give a great presentation on the size and scale of the universe (if you ever want to feel really, really small that's a presentation not to miss!). It's hard to say anything bad about this place...but here it goes: skip the gift shop. It struck me as mostly over-priced, touristy junk (even more so than your typical gift shop, I mean). read more

The BF and I went to Lowell when we were in Flagstaff over the weekend for our anniversary. I must say, the observatory is very interesting and romantic (it has to be kept pretty dark to see the stars....). You can see all of the stars from the observatory, which is great for city folk like me who rarely see any stars. While we were there, we got to see Uranus, Jupiter, a star cluster (with thousands of stars....do you know what that means??? mind blown...) and we even saw another galaxy....It was so freakin cool! The people who work there are very knowledgeable about astronomy and take every opportunity to show you something through the different telescopes. Inside, they were featuring an exhibit with 3D images of Mars. That was very interesting and cool to see as well. I would definitely go back up to Lowell again! read more

Another great venue while on our vacation to Flagstaff in May 2014. They have great exhibits and knowledgable staff. It is also the location where the planet Pluto was discovered by Clyde Tombaugh. A definite must see if you are into astronomy! read more

I never would have thought a visit to an Observatory during the day would be interesting. The Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona changed that. Their exhibits and the Pluto tour were awesome. This is the facility where Pluto was discovered. Thank you very much for the experience. read more

Love this observatory for its small size and manageability during an evening outing with the family. The exhibits and films at the museum were fun to read/view. The highlight of our visit was the science demonstration with Lisa. I wish all science instructors had her enthusiasm. She explained all the planets and their atmosphere via chemical reaction demos that were super-informative and engaging for kids and adults. The kids were able to participate together during the last two experiments and were allowed to touch the products of some of the experiments, which made my son's day. Not only was he able to be out until 10pm, he was also able to spend the time with the stars and a truly gifted scientist. read more

Best parts of the exhibit: 1. the telescopes (of course) 2. very knowledgeable friendly staff! There were 2 telescopes set up - 1 outside, which the staff would point to various things (we saw Andromeda & the moon), and 1 inside, which was pointed at Jupiter & its 4 moons. Staff was there supervising each and telling us what to look for. It was totally awesome *seeing* the red stripes on Jupiter's surface. They were all super nice and patient, pointed out a ton of constellations visible to the naked eye, and answered everyone's questions. You could tell they're genuinely interested in & love this stuff. Major thumbs up to them for being so awesome! I also enjoyed the ongoing lecture in the rotunda building that you can sort of drift in & out of as you look at the historic exhibits. The lecturer was also super knowledgeable and covered a variety of topics like types of planets in the solar system and available map of all visible galaxies, as she showed everything on a big screen. Not so great parts: 1. the general exhibit itself 2. the movie "Heavy Astronomy" Maybe it is better during the day (we went on a Friday night), but the exhibit looked like standard museum fare but in disrepair. There were signs indicating interactive elements, but they were physically not there or the screens were off/had error messages on them. Someone wrote "wash me" with their finger in the dust on one of the display walls. One exhibit wall says Pluto's planet-hood is debated but that Pluto is officially still a planet...maybe it hasn't been updated out of defiance or something since this is obviously no longer true. (In fact, they have visitors vote on what Pluto's status should be with money in the other building). They play a 30 minute film called "Heavy Astronomy" in the theater...it's pretty bad. It's basically a VERY RANDOM/weird collection of stream-of-consciousness shorts with subtitles set to random/weird 80s & other music. It has the feel of a student's video project or a movie to watch while high. If that's not your thing, I'd suggest skipping it. Over all, I'd definitely recommend a visit! It's a very friendly chill space, but you can learn a ton if you want to. Who isn't impressed by TELESCOPES and looking at a gorgeous night sky? Plus, how cool is it to see the place where they discovered Pluto & expansion of the universe? Pretty amazeballs. read more

An amazing museum and observatory with lectures and telescopes. The location is up above Flagstaff and affords wonderful views below. We came after sunset so got night views. The staff was friendly and cheerful and we got unbelievable views of Saturn and Jupiter. They weren't just white blobs but the actual planets like you see in books. The lecture on the constellations was entertaining and informative. read more

Lowell Observatory - One of the super cool telescopes. - Observatories Near Me - Flagstaff, Arizona

Everything was great, except it was overcast so we didn't get to use the telescope. The young people who spoke in the theater could use a little more experience. The one was overly giddy and giggly. Nice tour outside and inside where the telescope is housed. read more

My kids absolutely love this place. They love to look through the telescopes and wonder what's out there. Go at night for a fun time. It's dimly lit and they have so much to do. read more