Tuesday, May 31, 2011

Pluto, I still think you're a planet.

On February 18, 1930 Clyde Tombaugh discovered Pluto. He was following the celestial object through the sky for nearly a year before making this discovery. He used a machine called a blink comparator to shift back and forth between four sets of photos quickly enough to see movement across the sky, leading him to Pluto. Before coming up with the name for the planet, he gave rights to the Lowell Observatory to come up with a name. Over 1000 names were selected, ranging from Atlas to Zymal. The name Pluto came from Venetia Burney, who was interested in Roman mythology. She suggested that the planet was cold, dark and lonely much like the ruler of the underworld.

Interesting side note, Walt Disney released Mickey's dog, Pluto, that year to commemorate the planet. Today Pluto is officially recognized as a dwarf planet, or an outer planet in the Kuiper Belt. It is recognized as having not enough mass to qualify as being a full Jovian planet. I still think you're planet Pluto.

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