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When did Clyde Tombaugh discover Pluto?
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He discovered the ninth planet Pluto in 1930, the first object to be discovered in what would later be identified as the Kuiper belt. At the time of discovery, Pluto was considered a planet, but was reclassified as a dwarf planet in 2006.
- February 18, 1930: Discovery of Pluto
- Tombaugh and The New Horizons Mission to Pluto
- Planet X?
- Clyde Tombaugh’s Early Career
- Pluto Reclassified as A Dwarf Planet
- More to See in The Outer Solar System
On this date 92 years ago, Clyde Tombaugh – just 25 years old – was working at Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona. Tombaugh had been working at the observatory for about a year. He was continuing the search for a 9th planet that Percival Lowell began in 1906. On February 18, 1930, Tombaugh compared photos of a single star field – taken six da...
On the anniversary in 2020, Thomas Zurbuchen – associate administrator for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate – commented: NASA also said that, although he died in 1997, Tombaugh’s ashes were aboard the New Horizonsspacecraft when it launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida, in January 2006. Those ashes, carried in a small canister on the spacecraft, ...
The mystery of Pluto began long before Clyde Tombaugh’s momentous discovery. Astronomers in the 19th century knew the 7th planet Uranus as the outermost planet in our solar system. But they believed somethingwas gravitationally disturbing Uranus’ orbit, and they concluded another planet must exist farther out. They even mathematically predicted its...
Lowell Observatory hiredClyde Tombaugh in 1929 to continue the search Percival Lowell had begun. Tombaugh, born in 1906, grew up on a farm in Streator, Illinois. As a boy he dreamed of becoming an astronomer but gave up the possibility of attending college after a hailstorm destroyed his family’s crops. However, he taught himself mathematical skill...
In 2006, the International Astronomical Union changed the status of Pluto from one of nine major planets in our solar system to a dwarf planet, raising much controversy.
Besides Pluto, we now know of numerous bodies in the outer solar system. These objects are part of the Kuiper Belt. Several of these worlds also carry the dwarf planet label, such as Haumea, Makemake, and Eris. Astronomers believe we will eventually find many more small, spherical worlds in the outer solar system. And what of Planet X? Interestingl...
Feb 15, 2013 · In 2006, almost a decade after Tombaugh's death, the International Astronomical Union reclassified Pluto as a dwarf planet. The New Horizons mission carries some of Tombaugh's ashes on board...
Mar 3, 2010 · On February 18, 1930, Tombaugh discovered the tiny, distant planet by use of a new astronomic technique of photographic plates combined with a blink microscope.
- Missy Sullivan
Mar 17, 2017 · On February 18, 1930, Clyde W. Tombaugh, an assistant at the Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona, discovered Pluto. For over seven decades, Pluto was considered the ninth planet of our solar system.
- Jennifer Rosenberg
Feb 18, 2005 · To mark the 75th anniversary of the discovery of the planet Pluto, The Planetary Society presents to its readers the remarkable story of the discovery. Read here how Clyde Tombaugh, a farm boy from Kansas with a high school education, succeeded where accomplished professional astronomers had failed, and discovered the elusive 9th planet.
Jan 17, 1997 · The young astronomer earned a permanent place in the history of science when he discovered the planet Pluto on February 18, 1930. Pluto’s orbit lies three billion miles from the sun; it takes Pluto two and a half earthly centuries to complete a single orbit around the sun.
