Dr. Wes Lockwood
Emeritus Astronomer
Planetary Science
PhD University of Virginia, 1968
Dr. Lockwood joined Lowell Observatory in 1973 to work on a “Solar Variations and Atmospheric Transparency” project, an offshoot of the Observatory’s “Project for the Study of Planetary Atmospheres,” which began at Lowell in 1950. This planetary variability study has produced brightness measurements of Neptune, Uranus and Titan that have not been duplicated elsewhere and, according to Dr. Lockwood, will allow astronomers to someday understand the seasonal variation of planetary atmospheres. The workhorse for these projects was been the Observatory’s 21-inch reflecting telescope, located on the Mars Hill campus just west of the Slipher Building. Installed in 1953, it is housed in a 1920s stone building with a retractable roof and is used solely for photoelectric photometry, a process that measures light through colored glass filters.
The Solar -Stellar Spectrograph (SSS) project was another of Dr. Lockwood’s ongoing projects, and involved use of the Hall Telescope, located at the observatory’s Anderson Mesa dark sky site. For years, he and his team monitored the Sun and Sun-like stars on a monthly basis in order to learn more about the Sun and its effects on Earth’s climate.
Astronomers
Dr. Audrey Thirouin
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Dr. Thirouin’s area of expertise is the study of the diverse small body populations in our Solar System. She is using several techniques, from observations to modeling, to understand the…
Dr. Dave Schleicher
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Dr. Dave Schleicher’s major research interests include the physical properties, chemical composition, and behavior of comets.
Dr. Larry Wasserman
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Dr. Larry Wasserman’s major research interests include the study of solar system bodies via occultations and instrument control software. His work on occultations includes the prediction, observation, and analysis of…
Dr. Melodie Kao
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BS Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2011PhD California Institute of Technology, 2017 Dr. Kao joined Lowell Observatory in 2024, focusing on exo-aurorae and brown dwarf magnetospheres to understand exoplanet magnetism. She…
Dr. Nick Moskovitz
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Dr. Nick Moskovitz’s research involves observations and simple models of minor planets in the solar system. His work has implications for topics ranging from the origin of planets to the…
Dr. Phil Massey
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Dr. Phil Massey studies massive stars (O-type, Wolf-Rayet, yellow and red supergiants), binary stars, young clusters, and the initial mass function. He is the Principal Investigator for the Large Monolithic…
Researchers
Allison Bair
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Allison Bair assists astronomer Dr. David Schleicher with his research on the origins and evolution of comets, with a primary focus on analyzing the chemical composition of comets from Lowell’s…
Brian Skiff
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Brian Skiff has spent nearly 40 years at Lowell Observatory as an observer and research assistant. Among Skiff'’s accomplishments at Lowell is the vital role he played in the decade-long…
Dr. Kyler Kuehn
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Dr, Kyler Kuehn oversees management of Lowell Observatory’s science telescopes and related equipment. He also actively pursues both observational and instrumentation research.
Dr. Ryan Hamilton
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Dr. Stephen Levine
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Dr. Stephen Levine coordinates the operation of the Lowell Discovery Telescope and also carries out research focused on large astrometric surveys that measure the positions and movements of stars.
Dr. Timothy Ellsworth-Bowers
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Post-Doctoral Researchers
Dr. Alex Polanski
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AS El Camino Community College, 2017 BS University of California, Santa Barbara, 2019 PhD University of Kansas, 2024 Dr. Alex Polanski is a postdoctoral researcher at Lowell where he uses…
Dr. Clara Brasseur
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Stellar Astronomy PhD, 2025, University of St. Andrews Dr. Brasseur joined Lowell Observatory in October 2025 as an NSF Astronomy and Astrophysics Postdoctoral Fellow. Her research interests include stellar and…
Dr. Kate Minker
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Planetary Astronomer PhD, 2025, the Université Côte d'Azur Dr. Kate Minker research focuses on small bodies in the Solar System. In particular, she studies the binarity, shape, and collisional history…
Dr. Momo Ellwarth
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Dr. Momo Ellwarth is a postdoctoral researcher at Lowell Observatory, where she has been working since January 2025 at the intersection of solar physics and extreme precision radial velocity (EPRV)…
Dr. Quicheng Zhang
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BS University of California, Santa Barbara, 2017PhD California Institute of Technology, 2024 Dr. Qicheng Zhang studies the behavior of comets and asteroids near the Sun to better understand the formation…
Research Assistants & Students
Breelyn Cocke
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Working with Dr. Phil Massey
Cassie Beaumont
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Working with Dr. Phil Massey Ms Cassie Beaumont is an undergraduate at Northern Arizona University majoring in Physics and Astrophysics. They began working as a Lowell Research Assistant in Phil’s…
Sam Hemmelgarn
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Working with Dr. Nick Moskovitz BS Arizona State University, 2007BS Northern Arizona University, 2023 Sam joined Lowell Observatory as a research assistant for the Lowell Observatory Cameras for All-Sky Meteor…
Thomas Kelly
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Adjunct & Emeritus
Dr. Deidre Hunter
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Dr. Deidre Hunter’s primary scientific interest is tiny irregular galaxies — how they originate, evolve, and produce stars and star clusters, and how they are shaped. Her approach is multi-wavelength,…
Dr. Kaspar von Braun
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Dr. von Braun's research concentrates on the characterization of extrasolar planets via their host stars. After finishing his degree at Michigan, Dr. von Braun worked as a Carnegie Fellow at…
Dr. Nat White
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Dr. Nat White’s major research interests include the measurement of stellar properties using lunar occultations and the development of astronomical instrumentation, high-angular-resolution astronomy. Until his retirement in 2007, he was…
Dr. Otto Franz
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Dr. Otto Franz’s research specialty is investigating binary stars to expand our knowledge of stellar masses and better understand their formation and evolution. He is one of the first astronomers…
