Comments on: Day of the Plutoid

By: Paul Turnbull

Paul Turnbull — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 02:13:52 +0000

I’m not sure what the fuss is about. Tombaugh goes from discovering the 9th planet to discovering the first a whole new class of object. Seems like a win to me.

By: PurpleRanger

PurpleRanger — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 18:15:15 +0000

And you notice that the move to downgrade Pluto’s status didn’t happen until AFTER Tombaugh’s death?

By: Steven Silver

Steven Silver — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 20:04:04 +0000

Clyde took the first of the three discovery pictures of Pluto on January 20, 1930, and I got to meet him on the fiftieth anniversary of that photograph. I also had the privilege of carrying out a five year correspondence with him around that time and had a standing invitation to visit whenever I was in his part of New Mexico.

His wife has said that Clyde knew that Pluto’s demotion would happen eventually before his death in 1997.

By: John H

John H — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 17:55:17 +0000

I’m glad they decided to name the class of dwarf planets beyond Neptune Plutoids — that at least gives the little planet that wasn’t some distinction other than “that little ice ball that we used to think was a planet.”

By: Laurel Kornfeld

Laurel Kornfeld — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 17:42:47 +0000

Forget the term “plutoid”; almost no one is using it. Pluto is still viewed as a planet by many professional astronomers. It is true that images of Pluto were taken by Percival Lowell in 1915, but unfortunately, Lowell did not recognize the image as the object for which he was searching. He died believing he failed to discover the ninth planet without recognizing that he had in fact found it. However, it was not recognized as such until Clyde Tombaugh made the official discovery in 1930.

By: Jeff

Jeff — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 17:27:17 +0000

Alas, he discovered the solar system’s largest comet.

Speaking of comets, did you read about the green one that will be passing soon? Discovered by a teenager? It’s going backwards around the sun, too, and will only visit once before being ejected from the system. I’m no scientist, but that tells me it’s a stray cat from deep space.