Clyde Tombaugh discovered Pluto in 1930—85 years later, his ashes finally reached it.
Key Takeaways:
- A Cosmic Tribute – Clyde Tombaugh, Pluto’s discoverer, symbolically visited the dwarf planet as his ashes traveled aboard NASA’s New Horizons probe.
- A Journey Decades in the Making – The spacecraft took over nine years to reach Pluto, passing within 7,800 miles of its surface.
- The Power of Discovery – Tombaugh’s work in 1930 reshaped our understanding of the solar system, leading to the discovery of the Kuiper Belt.
- A Family’s Pride – His daughter reflected on how amazed he would have been to see Pluto up close.
- A Legacy in Space – New Horizons continues deeper into the Kuiper Belt, carrying Tombaugh’s legacy into the unknown.
On February 18, 1930, a young astronomer named Clyde Tombaugh made history when he discovered Pluto at the Lowell Observatory in Arizona. At just 24 years old, his breakthrough revealed an entirely new celestial body beyond Neptune, expanding our understanding of the solar system’s outer reaches. His painstaking research, which involved studying millions of star images, was a monumental achievement that laid the foundation for further exploration of the Kuiper Belt—a distant region filled with icy objects, of which Pluto remains the most well-known.
A Historic Space Mission
Fast forward to 2006, nearly a decade after Tombaugh’s passing in 1997, when NASA launched the New Horizons probe. This spacecraft embarked on an ambitious nine-year journey to Pluto, carrying a unique tribute—a small container holding Tombaugh’s ashes. In July 2015, the probe completed its historic flyby, passing within 7,800 miles (12,500 kilometers) of Pluto’s surface, making it the closest approach ever by a spacecraft.
A Fitting Tribute to an Astronomical Pioneer
Tombaugh’s daughter, Annette, shared how he would have been amazed to see the planet he discovered in such vivid detail. The mission not only honored his contributions to astronomy but also provided stunning images and valuable data about Pluto’s atmosphere, moons, and surface features. Engraved on the canister carrying his ashes was a heartfelt tribute, recognizing him as a scientist, teacher, and friend.
Today, New Horizons continues its mission, venturing deeper into the Kuiper Belt, ensuring that Clyde Tombaugh’s legacy of discovery lives on—billions of miles from Earth
