February 18, 2023
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.
A young Clyde Tombaugh standing with his homemade 9-inch telescope. Tombaugh used this telescope to sketch planets like Jupiter and Saturn. Image credit: Popular Science Monthly/Public Domain
