February 18, 2022
On this date in 1930, Clyde Tombaugh, a young astronomer from Kansas, discovered Pluto. Although Tombaugh had no formal education, he was hired by Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona to photograph the sky and hunt for the ninth planet. Less than 1 year into his search he succeeded in discovering Pluto. When Tombaugh passed, a small amount of his ashes was placed on the Pluto flyby mission New Horizons.
The arrows in these photos point to Pluto, which moves relative to the background stars between the times these images were taken. Although these photos were taken in January, 1930, Clyde Tombaugh didn’t analyze them and consequently discover Pluto until mid February of the same year. Image credit: Lowell Observatory
