European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - October 24, 1987, Darmstadt, Hesse My a a backyard planet probe astronomer Clyde by hit homemade Telescope in hit backyard in Lea Cruces my. He began studying the Stan with Man order telescopes As s. Farm boy in Kansas discovered Pluto in 1930. And at s 11s still devoted to the shitty of the heavens. The discovery appeared on a blink Microscope Comparator an optical instrument thai can show movement of objects in space. Ii works something like inc cartoon booklets children play with. Each Page has a Ligure in a i Florcel position. As you hip the pages. The figure seems to move against the background. Tombaugh saw the movement of Pluto when he waked photographic plates made on Jan. 23 and Jan 29. Marc plates and More blinking confirmed the discovery of a planet moving against the background of the stars beyond Neptune the Farmer the Amateur had changed the known universe at age 24. But Tombaugh and other astronomers concluded that Pluto although a planet was not Lowell s planet a the new planet was 6 degrees from its predicted place and 10 limes dimmer than the predicted planet it was too Small to cause the wobbling of uranus and Neptune. Tombaugh spent 13 More years searching for planet x he examined 65 percent of the sky there is no plane a he says now then pauses no i m not prepared to say there Are no More planets Only to Tho limit of my plates " Bui he notes that scientists still searching Vilh space probes have found no evidence of a planet ugg no at uranus and Neptune nor have they Lound a reason for the planetary wobbles. Tombaugh took Timo Olf irom Iho plane x search to attend the University of Kansas for his Bachelor s and master s degrees even then he directed the search irom Lawrence. Kanand returned often to Flagstaff to do the blinking in the local 14 years of his search. Tombaugh saw Aboul 19 million Star images in looking at All those stars he has seen no sign of a Piwcio extraterrestrial life. But he says in could be out there you see we feel pretty sure there is no intelligent life an any of the other planets in our own solar system. Bui Ihal s us one Star with a few planets. But there Are two Hundred billion suns in our own Galaxy Tho Milky Way. So there must be billions and billions of solar systems " Tombaugh would have stayed with the planet x search but he had to drop it in 1943 because of world War ii. He was assigned As a civilian to Arizona state College at Flagstaff now Northern Arizona University to Leach physics and navigation in Navy v-12. A program for sailors and marines boning up for midshipman and officer candidates Seho ois Tombaugh had never studied navigation the commanding officer handed him the classic this big fat Book of Bowditch on navigation and said you la Tec tire from this. Gootel Luck " baffled by a Man who talked Aboul me stars As it he owned i hem and thought in billions and i nations his students saw Tombaugh As an eccentric Ligure crud gig alone across the snowy Campus in a Black of Croal and galoshes carrying a turned Black umbrella a Lorimer Marine student visiting Limbaugh 44 years later Lelis him the students gave him a nickname. Comet Clyde " Tombaugh s eyes gleam and his Mouth spreads in a wide Grin of. Comet Clyde Hahnl sonet Alel had t heard soon after the War ended the army lured him to direct us optical tracking of missiles at while Sands missile Range in Southern new Mexico he had some close Calls in one of Hern. A v-2 rocket misfired and plummeted Back it missed one camera station by loss than 100 Yards from 100 Miles Lour ions of Oie Lal. Pal. And in made a Crater 75 tee i w de and 75 acct deep i was in i petrified Asho was finishing his pioneering work Lor Tho army Nasa hired him to Sec whether in would be Safe to to to Iho Moon scanning the skies above new Mai cd and Ecuador to looked Lor rocks natural Sale tales. Whizzing around Tho Earth to wanted to see it the Earl had any rings going around like Saturn s rings you ice so we spent the next few years looking for rocks and we never Lound any. So the verdict wrist that to could go to inc Moon without much risk of Tombaugh did some of this research at now Mccu slate University the school had no astronomy course the University president persuaded him to Icah one this grow into today s which accepts Only candidates Lor Mas Lor s and doctor s degrees Tombaugh retired from regular leaching and became professor emeritus in 1973 to still in clues occasionally and people come to his Olf ice Lor jokes and advice Tombaugh lives in awhile stucco ranch style House shaded by tall Pecan roes. A 5 fool Glass fronted Case and the fireplace mantel in his living room Are holed win medals and citations from the Royal astronomical society of Britain other process Iona societies. Nasa White Sands and several universities he is a member of the space Hall of Fame at Alamogordo. N m and Tho White Sands Hall of Fame. Shrunk by age from 5-Feol-8 to about 5 feel ?. Tombaugh still mows his third of an acre Lawn and works Wilh three telescopes that sit in his Yard protected from the Sun by a 30-toot Pecan tree the farm Telescope that won him his of Al Flagstaff is mounted on a Chassis made of Spaic parts the base of a Cream separator the Shaft Ola 1910buick rods and gears from a Straw spreader and a steam engine a smaller Telescope rests in a wooden Cabinet i is mounted on an old Lawn Mower Chassis and Tombaugh wheels it out when to wan is to Uso a Mobile Telescope. It Camo in Handy Lor the 10 Halley s Cornel parties that he gave last year. The third the on Tombaugh uses Foi serious observing an 11 Inch Relt Cloi supported by a red steel Frame rears up 20 Leet under the big tree the Power company has painted the sides of Street lights facing Tombaugh s Yard Black and Lei i one Corner unlighted so that Light pollution won i dim his observations visitors May be impressed but Tom Baurch notes with a Grin that his Sun became a banker i guess he was t impressed by what an astronomer makes Patsy his Wile Lor 53 years treats him like any Veteran spouse. Coming into the Yard to Oiler iced Loa As Tombaugh explains his tall Telescope. Mrs Tombaugh offers a comment Clyde she says that Hiramc needs pain log yeah you re he says i Haven i painted in since i built it 25 years ago Iii have to get to that but Tombaugh has a higher priority Lor Woik on Hal Telescope he plans to grind a convex Mirror Hal will reflect images Down from the viewing platform. 15 Leel above the ground to a concave juror at the base platform. Then he won t have to climb inc aluminium ladder As he persists in Pursuit of the Tirol of his own ten commandments for plane Hunters behold Iho heavens and the great vastness thereof to a planet could be anywhere therein " saturday. October 24,19b7 the stars and stripes Page 17
