In a truly historic astro observing spot ! Clyde Tombaugh’s telescope which he used to discover the planet Pluto. “PLANET ?!” I hear you exclaim ? Well that’s why we’re giving the ‘9’ salute here ! Currently controversy rages over whether Pluto is the ninth planet in the Solar System, as it was when Tombaugh found it in 1930, or one of many dwarf planets. You can tell which side I’m on !
And this is what all the fuss is about. This is a roughly one-inch square detail of the original glass plate taken using THAT telescope by Clyde Tombaugh himself. Those two little scribbled lines locate the tiny grey dot that IS PLUTO. This is the ‘B’ plate, one of two which Tombaugh compared to see that the tiny dot had moved. He had discovered the ‘Planet X’ that everyone was looking for – PLUTO. Great to see this stuff.
Just for reference … this is the whole of Clyde Tombaugh’s ‘Plate B’ – containing theme of thousands of stars – showing how insanely diligent Tombaugh had to be to discover the movement of the tiny dot that was Pluto. Amazing. The two glass plate negatives were taken 6 days apart.
Beauty of Sedona. Bell Rock. Gotta love Arizona.
Bri
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