Re: Discovery of Pluto Reaches 75th Anniversary
From: Rodney Kelp (Rodneykelp605_at_hotmail.com)
Date: 02/07/05
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Date: Mon, 7 Feb 2005 18:25:07 -0500
I thought Pluto was an asteroid.
<baalke@earthlink.net> wrote in message
news:1107557693.269232.187310@g14g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...
> http://www.lowell.edu/press_room/releases/recent_releases/PL_75_rls.html
>
> Lowell Observatory
> For Immediate Release
>
> February 3, 2005
>
> contact:
> Steele Wotkyns
> (928) 233-3232
> steele@lowell.edu
>
> Discovery of Pluto Reaches 75th Anniversary
>
> Flagstaff, AZ - The planet Pluto turns 75 this month. Clyde Tombaugh
> discovered the ninth planet in the solar system on the afternoon of
> February 18, 1930 while he meticulously examined a pair of deep sky
> photographs at Lowell Observatory. Tombaugh exposed the photographs on
> two nights in late January using the Observatory's 13-inch Abbott
> Lawrence Lowell Telescope. Then, as part of the carefully planned and
> executed planet search, Tombaugh "blinked" the two exposures using a
> machine called a comparator, looking for motion of objects captured on
> film.
>
> "One need only visit Lowell Observatory and view copies of the
> discovery
> images through the same eyepiece used by Clyde Tombaugh to appreciate
> what a remarkable discovery this was," said Bob Millis, Director. "The
> images are extremely faint and testify to the skill, concentration, and
> dedication that Clyde Tombaugh brought to his work."
>
> Lowell Observatory's search for a ninth planet was begun by founder
> Percival Lowell in 1905. While Dr. Lowell did not live to see the
> discovery of Pluto, the Observatory made the official announcement of
> the discovery on Percival Lowell's birth date, March 13, 1930. After
> many suggestions, Pluto was selected as the name for the new planet. As
> an added plus, the astronomical community adopted a symbol for the
> planet that also was a combination of Percival Lowell's initials.
> Eleven-year-old Venetia Burney from Oxford, England suggested the name.
>
> Several Lowell Observatory astronomers continue to study Pluto,
> including Marc Buie and Will Grundy. Marc Buie has studied the cold,
> dark outer regions of the solar system - with a special interest in
> Pluto
> - since the early 1980s. Buie is conducting a long-term project to
> monitor Pluto's brightness changes on decade, or longer, time scales.
> One of his recent, ongoing projects is aimed at producing a new
> generation of Pluto maps based on images taken with the Hubble Space
> Telescope. Buie has developed a small, high-performance computing
> cluster for this project at the Observatory.
>
> Will Grundy, Lowell Associate Astronomer, studies icy surfaces of outer
> solar system objects including Pluto, the icy satellites of giant
> planets, centaurs, and Kuiper Belt Objects. Grundy is a science team
> member on NASA's New Horizons: A Pluto-Kuiper Belt Mission.
>
> "In the past decade, we have progressed from thinking of Pluto as a
> barely resolved 14th magnitude point of light to seeing it as a unique
> world with complicated seasonal cycles and with surface regions
> exhibiting diverse appearances and chemical compositions," Grundy said.
>
> To complement the astronomy research that includes these ongoing Pluto
> studies, Lowell Observatory maintains an active educational and
> outreach
> program. The Observatory will present a Pluto 75th anniversary program
> on the evening of Friday, February 18 as part of its regular evening
> programs. The nighttime program consists of a special Cosmic Cart at
> 7:45 p.m., a series of demonstrations particularly suitable for
> children. This will be followed by a lecture about Pluto at 8:30 p.m.
> The Observatory opens at 7:30 p.m. and telescope viewing will occur
> throughout the evening, weather permitting. For more information, visit
> www.lowell.edu/Public/Info/Specials.html .
>
> In addition to its Pluto research, Lowell Observatory has ongoing and
> long-term programs to identify near-Earth asteroids, survey a region of
> the solar system beyond Neptune known as the Kuiper Belt, conduct
> decades-long research on the sun and sun-like stars, study comets,
> search for extrasolar planets, and pursue a variety of astrophysical
> investigations. The Observatory is also building the Discovery Channel
> Telescope, a partnership with Discovery Communications that will
> produce
> a versatile, powerful 4.2-meter telescope.
>
> Lowell Observatory's mission is to pursue the study of astronomy,
> especially the study of our solar system and its evolution; to conduct
> pure research in astronomical phenomena; and to maintain quality public
> education and outreach programs to bring the results of astronomical
> research to the general public. The Observatory was founded in 1894.
> Visit www.lowell.edu .
>
>
> end
>
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