Enchanting Stories of New Mexico - The first pictures of Pluto

A little Pluto history is in order today. Pluto, the ninth planet, no, not the ninth planet, yes, the ninth planet. You hear the people arguing. Me, Michael Swickard, I look up in the sky and while I can’t see more than the planets Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Neptune, I can’t see Pluto. But I know it is out there three to four billion miles from the sun. I know light takes about five hours to travel to it from the sun so me seeing it even with a telescope is unlikely. You know what I do see? I see in my mind’s eye Clyde Tombaugh who on this day in 1930 was shivering in a very cold Flagstaff Arizona Lowell Observatory taking pictures. It was 94 years ago this week and about four hundred miles from Southern New Mexico that the just turning 24 year old Clyde Tombaugh took two pictures one week apart and after they were developed and put in a special machine the amount of movement of one bright spot was exactly what it would be if it was a planet. He was able to tell his boss that they might have found the Planet X the Percival Lowell had predicted to be out past Neptune.Love this Podcast? Check out our website at The Fresh Chile Company. Also, check us out on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube! Follow this link to get 15% off of your next order: Podcast15