This Day in History: Pluto Is Discovered
- 5 years ago
This Day in History:
Pluto Is Discovered February 18, 1930 Once believed to be the ninth planet,
Pluto was discovered at the Lowell
Observatory in Flagstaff, AZ, by
astronomer Clyde W. Tombaugh. Tombaugh discovered the tiny, dwarf
planet using a new astronomic
technique of photographic plates
combined with a blink microscope. Pluto was given the Roman name
for the god of the underworld in
Greek mythology, due to its
surface temperature of -360° F. Nearly four billion miles away
from the sun, it takes Pluto
approximately 248 years
to complete one orbit. Pluto's only known moon,
Charon, has a diameter
of a mere 737 miles. In 2006, it was announced that Pluto
would no longer be considered a
planet due to the fact that its orbit
crosses into the orbit of planet Neptune.
Pluto Is Discovered February 18, 1930 Once believed to be the ninth planet,
Pluto was discovered at the Lowell
Observatory in Flagstaff, AZ, by
astronomer Clyde W. Tombaugh. Tombaugh discovered the tiny, dwarf
planet using a new astronomic
technique of photographic plates
combined with a blink microscope. Pluto was given the Roman name
for the god of the underworld in
Greek mythology, due to its
surface temperature of -360° F. Nearly four billion miles away
from the sun, it takes Pluto
approximately 248 years
to complete one orbit. Pluto's only known moon,
Charon, has a diameter
of a mere 737 miles. In 2006, it was announced that Pluto
would no longer be considered a
planet due to the fact that its orbit
crosses into the orbit of planet Neptune.