3D print Lowell Observatory
A free, printable model of Lowell Observatory, a round observatory building ringed by railings, set on green ground with paths and small buildings nearby, generated from real map data in your browser.
Free, in your browser. Exports a slicer-ready 3MF.
About Lowell Observatory
Lowell Observatory, an astronomical observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona, was founded in 1894 by Percival Lowell, an astronomer from Boston's Lowell family. It counts among the country's oldest observatories. It received National Historic Landmark designation in 1965. Clyde Tombaugh discovered the dwarf planet Pluto there in 1930. In 1963, during the Moon mapping done for the Apollo Program, several astronauts visited, and many looked through the Clark Telescope.
Percival Lowell found the idea of artificial canals on Mars fascinating after seeing drawings by Giovanni Schiaparelli, who purported in 1877 to have found a series of Martian canals. Lowell set out to use his wealth to build an observatory in the United States. He hired astronomer Andrew E. Douglass to look for a site, and in 1894 they settled on Flagstaff for its elevation, dark skies at night and the railroad nearby. All the building materials came from nearby, though the Clark Refracting Telescope was put together in Boston. Lowell covered the costs himself, staff salaries included.
Lowell also began a search for an unknown planet beyond Neptune, which he called Planet X. The first search ran from 1905 to 1909 with the 24-inch Clark Telescope and found nothing. In 1928 a $10,000 donation from his brother paid for a new instrument, later named the Pluto Discovery Astrograph. On February 18, 1930, Tombaugh discovered Pluto while looking at two plates taken in January. From 1961 to 1969, Air Force mapmakers kept offices on the campus while charting the Moon for the Apollo Program.
How it prints
Make this print opens the generator on a 600 m square around the landmark. Buildings print at close to true scale, so the landmark grows with the print size.
| Print size | Landmark height | Scale |
|---|---|---|
| 160 mm default | 3 mm | 1:3,750 |
| 200 mm | 4 mm | 1:3,000 |
| 256 mm | 5 mm | 1:2,344 |
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North
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East
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South
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West
- Thin railings around the drum
- Fine railings circle the top and base of the round building. Print friendly adapts thin parts like these to the print scale, while Full detail keeps every rail, which suits a larger print.
- Ribbed walls and a small porch
- Fine vertical ribs and panel lines cover the walls, and a small gabled porch with steps sits at the entrance. A layer height of 0.12 to 0.16 mm and a larger print size keep these crisp.
- One piece with the ground
- Lowell Observatory is joined to the ground in the exported file, and the four-side check found no floating parts, so nothing needs gluing.
- Pick the detail for your nozzle
- In the Buildings settings, set Landmark detail to Print friendly to adapt thin parts and small details to the print scale. Full detail keeps every modeled feature, for larger prints or a finer nozzle.
- Colors
- Buildings, roads, water and ground arrive as separate filament slots in the 3MF. Lowell Observatory takes the building color.
- File format
- You get a 3MF for Bambu Studio, OrcaSlicer or PrusaSlicer. Any of them can save it as STL if you need one.
About this model
Lowell Observatory is one of more than 2,300 landmark models in Mini Skyline. They are made with AI, and each one is checked from four sides in its real surroundings before release. Everything around it is built from OpenStreetMap and Overture map data. If you would rather print the shape from map data, turn off Landmark models in the Buildings settings.
Common questions
Is there a Lowell Observatory STL I can download?
Mini Skyline builds the file for you in your browser and exports 3MF, which every major slicer opens. If you need an STL, open the 3MF in your slicer and export it from there.
How big can I print it?
Any print size from 40 mm across. Lowell Observatory grows with the print: about 3 mm tall on the default 160 mm print. For a model larger than your printer bed, Project Mode splits the area into tiles.
Is it free?
Yes. Generation runs in your browser, with no account and nothing behind a paywall.
