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Discovery of Pluto: Clyde Tombaugh & Unveiling the Pluto-Charon Binary Planet System

Learn about the historic discovery of Pluto by Clyde Tombaugh in 1930 and the subsequent exploration of the Pluto-Charon binary planet system. Explore the unusual orbit of Pluto and the New Horizons mission's race to study its atmosphere before it freezes in 2015.

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Discovery of Pluto: Clyde Tombaugh & Unveiling the Pluto-Charon Binary Planet System

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  1. Discovery of Pluto by Clyde Tombaugh on February 18, 1930. The object moved, the background stars did not. Lick Observatory images are 1 day apart

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  3. Pluto (diameter ~ 2320 km; surface T = - 390° F) and its moon Charon imaged by the Hubble Space Telescope Charon was discovered in 1978 and is ~ 1,200 km in diameter

  4. Pat Rawlings conception of the Pluto-Charon binary-planet system (left-front = Charon; right-back = Pluto)

  5. Relative sizes of Pluto, Charon, and the US. Pluto is 2,320 km and Charon ~ 1,200 km in diameter

  6. Pluto’s unusual orbit It is steeply inclined (17°) and highly eccentric (0.25). At times, Pluto’s orbit reaches inside that of Neptune

  7. The New Horizons Mission – the race to catch the atmosphere of Pluto before it freezes in ~2015 Launch January 19, 2006 (Jupiter fly-by February 2007) Pluto encounter in July 2015

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