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1. Robert McNees (mcnees@mastodon.social)'s status on Saturday, 18-Feb-2023 19:45:07 UTC Robert McNees

   Clyde Tombaugh discovered Pluto #OTD in 1930, while comparing photographic plates taken the previous month.

   The name Pluto was suggested by 11 year old Venetia Burney.

   Here’s a gif blink comparator of Tombaugh’s original plates!
   (Gif made by Tom Ruen on Twitter)

   • Robert McNees (mcnees@mastodon.social)'s status on Saturday, 18-Feb-2023 19:46:50 UTC Robert McNees

     in reply to

     Pluto is the top arrow in the gif. Here are the original plates, from the Lowell Observatory Archives.

   • Robert McNees (mcnees@mastodon.social)'s status on Saturday, 18-Feb-2023 19:49:21 UTC Robert McNees

     in reply to

     Astronomer Milton Humason famously *missed* discovering Pluto eleven years before Tombaugh found it! He captured it on 4 plates in 1919, but didn't notice.

     https://articles.adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-iarticle_query?1931ApJ....73....1N&data_type=PDF_HIGH&whole_paper=YES&type=PRINTER&filetype=.pdf

   • Robert McNees (mcnees@mastodon.social)'s status on Saturday, 18-Feb-2023 19:53:59 UTC Robert McNees

     in reply to

     Anyway, Tombaugh belongs to the stars now.
     https://mastodon.social/@mcnees/109807786137009699

   • Robert McNees (mcnees@mastodon.social)'s status on Saturday, 18-Feb-2023 20:14:18 UTC Robert McNees

     in reply to

     • Larry Smith For Harris

     @stargazersmith That's amazing!

   • Larry Smith For Harris (stargazersmith@social.linux.pizza)'s status on Saturday, 18-Feb-2023 20:14:19 UTC Larry Smith For Harris

     in reply to

     @mcnees
     I had the good fortune of having had a couple of brief conversations with Tombaugh in his later years.

     A special treat since like me he was a Kansas boy, born about 40 miles and 40 years from where/when I was born. Our teachers told us of his background and accomplishments, he being a local legend.

   • Knud Jahnke (knud@mastodon.social)'s status on Saturday, 18-Feb-2023 20:31:16 UTC Knud Jahnke

     in reply to

     @mcnees

     I'm sure we've already imaged z=9 quasars.

   • Robert McNees (mcnees@mastodon.social)'s status on Sunday, 19-Feb-2023 00:48:20 UTC Robert McNees

     in reply to

     • Karen Camarda

     @KarenCamarda Not sure!

   • Karen Camarda (karencamarda@astrodon.social)'s status on Sunday, 19-Feb-2023 00:48:21 UTC Karen Camarda

     in reply to

     @mcnees what is the bottom arrow?