Clyde's Legacy from the Outer Limits

[larrydix]

The Pluto system is a strange, alien place. Smaller than the earth’s moon, the primary, Pluto, is orbited by the lesser Charon. It is so far away from the sun that the nearest star is viewed as nothing more than a brilliant point of light in an otherwise dark universe. All the gasses on the planet are all frozen or liquefied except for perhaps hydrogen in temperatures which on the hottest summer’s day may approach twenty to twenty five degrees above absolute zero. At the age of 24, young Clyde Tombaugh discovered Pluto while working as an apprentice at Lowell Observatory. As a young man, he built his own telescope in his father’s garage – some of the parts came from a used Buick. His dad even took on a second job to help him pay for it. But his love for discovery and the stars led him to tenaciously look for the elusive Pluto which he found on February 18, 1929 – the first human eyes to fix on one of the most bizarre worlds in our family of worlds that circle Sol. But the real, lasting story of importance here is, in my opinion, not the story of a strange icy world orbiting so far awfully away, but it is the story of young Clyde. What we have discovered over the years since 1929 is that the Pluto system may be only one of millions of similar bodies that orbit the sun much further out than even Pluto in a virtual cloud of objects named the Oort cloud. But it is Clyde who stands out in my mind as one of those individuals who seized the moment in his life, understood its importance and used his time to make a difference. He decided that his intense love for his passion was important enough to make the sacrifices necessary to discover a whole new world – even a whole new class of worlds. And he spent his youth on the search, his passion, his energy. And all of us are richer for it. God bless Clyde, may he rest in peace. He died in 1997 at the age of 90. May his dream and his energy live on. And may his example light up our path. <br /><br />=============

 

[vogon13]

Read a book, Out of the Darkness, the Planet Pluto (IIRC) that describes search and discovery of Pluto. Amazing considering the equipment they had in that time frame. And Clyde's search strategy was very well thought out. To the point where you get the idea the discovery was inevitable. Yet I realize how arduous blink comparing all those photographic plates must have been. Can well appreciate sensation Clyde had while he was the only man on earth who knew of Pluto.<br /><br />Always like these events that occur seemingly 'ahead of their time' as they are the major drivers of our understanding of the universe. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font color="#ff0000"><strong>TPTB went to Dallas and all I got was Plucked !!</strong></font></p><p><font color="#339966"><strong>So many people, so few recipes !!</strong></font></p><p><font color="#0000ff"><strong>Let's clean up this stinkhole !!</strong></font> </p> </div>