Needle in a Haystack

"Picking out a faint planet amid the myriad of star images would be literally like finding a needle in a haystack." —Clyde W. Tombaugh, 1980

As a young boy Clyde W. Tombaugh learned about astronomy from his father and uncle. He built his own telescope and made detailed drawings of Mars and Jupiter. He sent the drawings to Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, AZ and was hired to locate a new planet at the edge of the solar system. Clyde's discovery turned the scientific world and the public upside down with excitement.

Growing up on a Kansan farm gave Clyde W. Tombaugh plenty of sky to explore, plenty of time to learn all he could about astronomy. He and his father and uncle trained their homemade telescope on the planets. Clyde drew the surfaces of Mars and Jupiter and shared his drawings with Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona. Gadzooks! They hired him to help search for a new planet! After 300 days of scouring the sky with a photographic telescope, Clyde pinpointed Pluto's location on February 18, 1930. With tenacity and a passion for astronomy, he found the last planet in the solar system. The scientific community and the public were jubilant. Clyde's story is perfect for STEM students. The back matter provides a follow-up to the status of Pluto, now considered a dwarf planet, and the 2015 New Horizons Pluto flyby. There is also a bibliography, glossary and biography of Tombaugh's life of discovery.

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