On February 18 , 1930 , amateur astronomerClyde Tombaughdiscovered " Planet X " using anastrograph , which is essentially a blank space photographic camera . Planet X was presently named Pluto , and the sleep is a dweeb engagement of diachronic balance .
Tombaugh started as a Kansas farm boy , and did not attend college untilafterhe chance upon Pluto . He had a knack for building thing , specially his own telescopes . This got him a job at the Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff , Arizona starting in 1929 . He earn the chore after mail in his own hand - drawn observations of the planets Mars and Jupiter , as observed using a mitt - made nine - in reflecting telescope scope .
Tombaugh look for Pluto base on a prediction made by Percival Lowell and William Pickering . They had observe wobble in the outer planets ' orbits , and speculate that it was because of some as - yet - unknown planet in a trans - Neptunian orbit .
On one fateful February daylight , Tombaugh saw the tiny speck of Pluto on a photographic home base . He obtain it using a " winking comparator , " a gadget with which you flip between two ikon — each taken by the astrograph — and spot tiny dots that move in an unexpected way . It was a tremendous find , rely both on high technology and hard work .
Tombaugh blend on to college after his find ( he catch a learnedness to the University of Kansas ) . He continued to wreak in astronomy for ten , eventually becoming a professor at New Mexico State University . He discover hundred of objects ( mainly asteroids ) in the solar system , and took up writing in his later years .
To remember Tombaugh and his uncovering , let ’s melodic phrase in tothis NASA miniskirt - documentaryin which his kids , Annette and Alden Tombaugh , think of their father :
For more from the horse ’s mouth , here ’s an fantabulous BBC docudrama on Tombaugh , which open with an get on ( and quite dapper ) Dr. Tombaugh receiving an award . He continue to show off his own telescopes and assure his write up , let in an fantabulous demonstration of the blink comparator — using the original Pluto plates ! .
( Image of Clyde Tombaughvia Wikimedia Commons , in the public arena . )
