February 18 1930 – Clyde Tombaugh Discovers Pluto

February 18 1930 – Clyde Tombaugh Discovers PlutoRate this post Looking over some photographic plates from the month before as part of his research into asteroids, astronomer Clyde Tombaugh noticed a peculiar object on February 18, 1930: the dwarf planet known today as Pluto. Part of a larger cloud of debris called the Kuiper belt, the small orb 4.6 billion miles from the sun has become a controversial figure in the scientific community. Tombaugh came to the Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona after demonstrating an expertise in the construction of telescopes, often building his own while passing time on the family farm in central Kansas. After gaining a position as […]