Discovering Pluto

The story of Pluto and its largest moon, from discovery through the New Horizons flyby--Provided by publisher.

Pluto looms large in Flagstaff, where residents and businesses alike take pride in their community's most enduring claim to fame: Clyde Tombaugh's 1930 discovery of Pluto at Lowell Observatory. Percival Lowell began searching for his theoretical "Planet X" in 1905, and Tombaugh's "eureka!" experience brought worldwide attention to the city and observatory. Ever since, area scientists have played leading roles in virtually every major Pluto-related discovery, from unknown moons to the existence of an atmosphere and the innovations of the New Horizons spacecraft. Lowell historian Kevin Schindler and astronomer Will Grundy guide you through the story of Pluto from postulation to exploration.

People, children especially, have been baffled, bewildered, and even outraged by the fact that Pluto is no longer called a planet. Through whimsical artwork and an entertaining dialogue format, Pluto’s Secret explains the true story of this distant world. Providing a history of the small, icy world from its discovery and naming to its recent reclassification, this book presents a fascinating look at how scientists organize and classify our solar system as they gain new insights into how it works and what types of things exist within it. The book includes a glossary and bibliography. Praise for Pluto's Secret "Pairing a lighthearted narrative in a hand-lettered–style typeface with informally drawn cartoon illustrations, this lively tale of astronomical revelations begins with the search for Planet X.” —Kirkus Reviews "This picture book offers a fresh, positive perspective on Pluto, showing that its change of status is not a demotion but a correction." —Booklist "Light-hearted imagining of a gregarious Pluto.” —Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books "Fun reading… The book provides a factual history of our faraway 'dwarf,' and on its companion icy worlds, and on the discovery of Kuiper-like bands around other stars." —School Library Journal Award New York Public Library’s annual Children’s Books list: 100 Titles for Reading and Sharing 2013

Pluto looms large in Flagstaff, where residents and businesses alike take pride in their community's most enduring claim to fame: Clyde Tombaugh's 1930 discovery of Pluto at Lowell Observatory. Percival Lowell began searching for his theoretical "Planet X" in 1905, and Tombaugh's "eureka!" experience brought worldwide attention to the city and observatory. Ever since, area scientists have played leading roles in virtually every major Pluto-related discovery, from unknown moons to the existence of an atmosphere and the innovations of the New Horizons spacecraft. Lowell historian Kevin Schindler and astronomer Will Grundy guide you through the story of Pluto from postulation to exploration.

Learn about the planet Pluto, the ninth planet from the sun. Using this book as your guide, you will learn to identify the characteristics and composition of Pluto that makes it unique. You will also get an idea on what it would be like if you were actually on this rock-and-ice planet. Read to learn beginning today. Secure a copy now.

The solar system most of us grew up with included nine planets, with Mercury closest to the sun and Pluto at the outer edge. Then, in 2005, astronomer Mike Brown made the discovery of a lifetime: a tenth planet, Eris, slightly bigger than Pluto. But instead of adding one more planet to our solar system, Brown’s find ignited a firestorm of controversy that culminated in the demotion of Pluto from real planet to the newly coined category of “dwarf” planet. Suddenly Brown was receiving hate mail from schoolchildren and being bombarded by TV reporters—all because of the discovery he had spent years searching for and a lifetime dreaming about. A heartfelt and personal journey filled with both humor and drama, How I Killed Pluto and Why It Had It Coming is the book for anyone, young or old, who has ever imagined exploring the universe—and who among us hasn’t?

An adventure in scientific discovery Pluto, the farthermost planet in the solar system, some 3,673 million mites from the Sun, was discovered by Clyde Tombaugh at the Lowell Observatory in 1930. The fiftieth anniversary of Pluto's discovery will be celebrated in 1980 and OUT OF THE DARKNESS: THE PLANET PLUTO tells the exciting scientific story of the twenty-five year search for a planet X beyond Neptune, and its discovery-the only planet found in the twentieth century. The planets Mercury, Venus. Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn were all known since antiquity. Then Sir William Herschel discovered Uranus in 1781, and 65 years later, in 1846, Johann Calle and Urbain le Verner discovered Neptune. Variations in orbital perturbations of the planets and theoretical astronomy were responsible for predicting and discovering the three outermost planets (Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto) and so Pluto's story is also, to some extent, the story of its planetary neighbors. What kind of world is Pluto? Much is still a mystery (its exact size, for instance), but there are some facts. It takes 247.7 years for Pluto to revolve around the sun. From Pluto's surface, the Sun appears as a star-like point; giving only on-one-hundredth the light Earth receives, although it is still brighter than a full Moon. There is strong evidence to suggest that Pluto is an escaped satellite of Neptune, a sister moon of Triton that wandered off to become the farthermost planet revolving around the Sun. And the recent discovery of Pluto’s moon, Charon, and the speculation on a tenth planet beyond Pluto add to the mystery that still prevails 50 years after coauthor Clyde Tombaugh exclaimed “That’s it!” when he saw the change of position of a faint object on the photographic plates after examining millions of star images. That evening, the only man alive to discover a planet, went to the movies and saw Gary Cooper in The Virginian. The night sky was cloudy when he came out of the theatre, but his mind’s eye still saw the faint image of Pluto.

"Describes the dwarf planet Pluto and the 2006 decision to change its status from a regular planet"--