Image of the Month

MEETING CLYDE TOMBAUGH!  What a thrill! In June of 1988, ClydeTombaugh, world famous as the discoverer of Pluto, came to visit our club, The Astronomical Society of Kansas City. He gave a very interesting talk, and exhibited a great sense of humor. His recounting of the events leading up to his discovery of Pluto were not only fascinating, but gave an insight into how much work it can be to make an astronomical discovery. He spent hour after hour using a blink comparator to study photographic plates filled with thousands of star images, patiently looking for one that moved! During the question and answer period after his talk, one of our members asked if he thought there were "other Plutos" out there. He drolly answered "Well, there probably are. We still have those thousands of photographic plates, and you're welcome to blink them yourself and see what you can find."  Afterwards, he autographed posters that featured images of the photographic discovery plates superimposed on a painting of an artist's depiction of Pluto and its moon Charon. I still have that poster hanging proudly in my study.