A new planet, if there was one, could be anywhere in the Zodiac
belt, or even outside of it.
This book tells the story of the discovery of the ninth
planet, Pluto, from my own personal experience. I have attempted
to relate a complex scientific event in as popular a language as
possible. The technical aspects of an astronomical problem are
expressed in descriptive form, and illustrated with diagrams and
photographs to aid the reader in grasping the fundamental concepts involved. Deliberately, I have not included a single mathematical equation.
Indeed, the success in finding the new planet was not due to
complex mathematical theory, but to basically simple observational
procedure and an enormous amount of painstaking work. Contrary
to wide-spread entertained opinion, the mathematical prediction
was of little aid in actually finding the planet, because of earlier
megative observational results. To single out the planet from a
sky background, teeming with millions of stars was like finding a
needle somewhere in a large haystack.
No other story about Pluto could be written like this one.
It is flavored with human interest and amusing incidents. Several
aspects of the problems involved in the planet search project have
not been previously described to the public. Indeed, the scientific
community is not aware of some aspects, judging from expositions
in textbooks and others. One of the questions so frequently asked,
"How did you know the object was beyond the orbit of Neputne when
Tombaugh, Clyde William, 1906-1997. Out of the darkness: The planet Pluto--Manuscripts; Books
Date Original
c. 1979
Digital Publisher
New Mexico State University Library
Collection
NMSU Department of Astronomy: Clyde W. Tombaugh Papers
Digital Identifier
Ms0407pp053003_0010001.tif
Source
Scan produced from physical item held by the NMSU Library Archives & Special Collections Department
Type
Text
Format
image/tiff
Language
eng
OCR
A new planet, if there was one, could be anywhere in the Zodiac
belt, or even outside of it.
This book tells the story of the discovery of the ninth
planet, Pluto, from my own personal experience. I have attempted
to relate a complex scientific event in as popular a language as
possible. The technical aspects of an astronomical problem are
expressed in descriptive form, and illustrated with diagrams and
photographs to aid the reader in grasping the fundamental concepts involved. Deliberately, I have not included a single mathematical equation.
Indeed, the success in finding the new planet was not due to
complex mathematical theory, but to basically simple observational
procedure and an enormous amount of painstaking work. Contrary
to wide-spread entertained opinion, the mathematical prediction
was of little aid in actually finding the planet, because of earlier
megative observational results. To single out the planet from a
sky background, teeming with millions of stars was like finding a
needle somewhere in a large haystack.
No other story about Pluto could be written like this one.
It is flavored with human interest and amusing incidents. Several
aspects of the problems involved in the planet search project have
not been previously described to the public. Indeed, the scientific
community is not aware of some aspects, judging from expositions
in textbooks and others. One of the questions so frequently asked,
"How did you know the object was beyond the orbit of Neputne when
