Clyde Tombaugh, an American astronomer, is credited with the discovery of Pluto. He made this historic find on February 18, 1930, while working at the Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona. Tombaugh's discovery was the result of a systematic search for a ninth planet, predicted to exist beyond Neptune.
Tombaugh used a technique called "blink comparison," which involved taking photographic plates of the same section of the sky at different times and then comparing them to identify any moving objects. In the process, he noticed a faint point of light that shifted its position against the background stars, indicating the presence of an unknown celestial body. This discovery marked the first identification of Pluto, which was initially considered the ninth planet in our solar system.
Pluto held the status of the ninth planet for several decades until 2006 when the International Astronomical Union (IAU) redefined the criteria for classifying planets. Pluto no longer met the updated definition, and it was reclassified as a "dwarf planet." Despite this reclassification, Clyde Tombaugh's discovery of Pluto remains a significant milestone in the history of astronomy.
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