dipper@utastro.UUCP (Debbie Byrd) (03/14/85)
The planet Pluto was named by an eleven-year-old girl. We'll tell you more -- in a moment. March 14 Naming Pluto We don't know who originally named the five planets we can see with just the naked eye. They were named long ago for the mythological Roman gods Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn. After telescopes were invented, two more planets were found and -- following tradition -- the planets Uranus and Neptune were also named for Roman gods. Then a ninth planet for the solar system was discovered on photographic plates at Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona. It's existence was reported to the world on this date in 1930. A schoolgirl in Oxford, England, was eating breakfast with her grandfather when he told her about the discovery of the new planet. When the grandfather wondered aloud what this planet should be named, eleven-year-old Venetia Burney suggested, "It might be called Pluto." Now, Venetia's grandfather was used to having a relative christen celestial objects -- his older brother had suggested the names of Deimos and Phobos for the two tiny moons of Mars -- and he knew that timing was very important. He contacted an astronomer at Oxford University -- who in turn telegraphed the suggestion to Lowell Observatory on March 15, 1930. Other people also proposed Pluto -- but Venetia was credited as the first when the planet was officially named. The Roman god Pluto was the brother of Jupiter and Neptune -- and ruled the dark and gloomy underworld of the dead. It seemed indeed an appropriate name for the planet that travels farthest from the sun -- in the dim outer reaches of the solar system. Script by Diana Hadley. (c) Copyright 1984, 1985 McDonald Observatory, University of Texas at Austin
naiman@pegasus.UUCP (Ephrayim J. Naiman) (03/18/85)
<munch, munch> I once heard that another reason Pluto was accepted was because the first two letters are the initials of the person who discovered the ninth planet. Is this true ? If it is, what is his name ? -- ==> Ephrayim J. Naiman @ AT&T Information Systems Laboratories (201) 576-6259 Paths: [ihnp4, allegra, ahuta, maxvax, cbosgd, lzmi, ...]!pegasus!naiman
gadfly@ihu1m.UUCP (Gadfly) (03/19/85)
-- > I once heard that another reason Pluto was accepted > was because the first two letters are the initials of the person who > discovered the ninth planet. Is this true ? If it is, what is his > name ? Percival Lowell--he calculated the orbital elements just after the turn of the century from perturbations of the orbit of Uranus not accountable by Neptune. The actual telescopic discovery was made by Clyde Tombaugh in 1930. The measurements from which Lowell (and others) attempted to find a ninth planet are known today to have exhibited sufficiently large error to have made his calculations extremely lucky. Lowell himself searched for the planet for ten years without success. -- *** *** JE MAINTIENDRAI ***** ***** ****** ****** 18 Mar 85 [28 Ventose An CXCIII] ken perlow ***** ***** (312)979-7188 ** ** ** ** ..ihnp4!iwsl8!ken *** ***
fbr@utastro.UUCP (Frank Ray) (03/19/85)
> <munch, munch> > > I once heard that another reason Pluto was accepted > was because the first two letters are the initials of the person who > discovered the ninth planet. Is this true ? If it is, what is his name ? > -- > > ==> Ephrayim J. Naiman @ AT&T Information Systems Laboratories (201) 576-6259 > Paths: [ihnp4, allegra, ahuta, maxvax, cbosgd, lzmi, ...]!pegasus!naiman Percival Lowell, astronomer, 1855-1916 fbr
ethan@utastro.UUCP (Ethan Vishniac) (03/20/85)
> -- > > I once heard that another reason Pluto was accepted > > was because the first two letters are the initials of the person who > > discovered the ninth planet. Is this true ? If it is, what is his > > name ? > > Percival Lowell--he calculated the orbital elements just after the turn > of the century from perturbations of the orbit of Uranus not accountable > by Neptune. The actual telescopic discovery was made by Clyde Tombaugh > in 1930. The measurements from which Lowell (and others) attempted to > find a ninth planet are known today to have exhibited sufficiently > large error to have made his calculations extremely lucky. Lowell > himself searched for the planet for ten years without success. > -- "Extremely lucky" is an understatement. The discovery of Pluto's moon (recently confirmed by eclipse observations done right here in Texas) indicate that the mass of Pluto is about 1/500 that of Earth. This is too small to have any observable effect on the orbit of any other planet. "Don't argue with a fool. Ethan Vishniac Borrow his money." {charm,ut-sally,ut-ngp,noao}!utastro!ethan *Anyone who wants to claim these opinions is welcome to them.*
canopus@amdahl.UUCP (Frank Dibbell) (03/21/85)
> I once heard that another reason Pluto was accepted > was because the first two letters are the initials of the person who > discovered the ninth planet. Is this true ? If it is, what is his name ? Percival Lowell spent the last years of his life looking for the elusive 9th planet. Alas, he died before its discovery in 1930 by Clyde Tombaugh, who I believe was an associate of Lowell's. My understanding of the situation is that "they" wished to name the newly discovered planet "Lowell", after Percival Lowell, but that this didn't fit in with the convention already established of naming planets after mythological gods/goddesses. Enter the StarDate anecdote at this point. The fact that "Pluto" begins with "PL", the initials of Percival Lowell, is purely coincidental. There exists an interesting book on the discovery of Pluto (so interesting, that I forgot its name!!!), that covers all this. If I recall its name, I shall post it. -- Frank Dibbell (408-746-6493) {whatever}!amdahl!canopus [R.A. 6h 22m 30s Dec. -52d 36m] [Generic disclaimer.....]
msb@lsuc.UUCP (Mark Brader) (03/24/85)
canopus@amdahl.UUCP (Frank Dibbell) writes: > .... Alas, [Percival Lowell] died before its discovery in 1930 by > Clyde Tombaugh, who I believe was an associate of Lowell's. > > My understanding of the situation is that "they" wished to name the > newly discovered planet "Lowell", after Percival Lowell, but that this > didn't fit in with the convention already established ... > > The fact that "Pluto" begins with "PL", the initials of Percival Lowell, > is purely coincidental. There exists an interesting book on the > discovery of Pluto (so interesting, that I forgot its name!!!), that > covers all this. If I recall its name, I shall post it. The interesting book that I have on the discovery of Pluto is "Out of the Darkness: The Planet Pluto", copyright 1980 by Clyde W. Tombaugh and Patrick Moore. Individual chapters are credited to one author or the other; Moore provides mostly background and Tombaugh writes about the actual search. The search that discovered Pluto was not terminated when it was discovered, though it was delayed for some weeks (while Tombaugh agonized over the thought that the dimmer-than-expected planet was not the planet but a distant satellite and the real planet was nearby just past where he'd stopped looking). Tombaugh eventually examined most of the sky between declination plus and minus 50, seeing 90 million star images and spending 7000 hours in intense concentration at the Blink-Comparator. Pluto's distance from the sun varies from about 30 to 49 AU and it was at about 39 at discovery. The search would have revealed a Pluto-like planet at 60 AU, an Earth-like one at 100, a Neptune-like one at 200, a Jupiter-like one at 470 AU. But no other planet was found. On the naming of the planet, Tombaugh writes: # Putnam [Lowell's nephew, trustee of the Lowell Observatory] kept pressuring # Slipher [director of the observatory] to select a name for the new planet # before someone else did. This privilege really belonged to the Lowell # Observatory. There were outside political pressures on naming the planet. # Indeed, I received a letter from a young couple in another state, asking # that the new planet be named after their newborn child. At first, Mrs. # Lowell proposed the name of "Zeus". Then later, she wanted the planet # named "Lowell". Still later she wanted it to be "Constance", her own given # name. No one favored that name. It was a touchy situation. # In the meantime, over a thousand letters poured in, including those from # several other astronomers, suggesting names for the new planet. Three names # about equally headed the lists: Minerva, Pluto, and Cronus. It is customary # to name planets after mythological deities. If Minerva, the goddess of # wisdom, had not already been given to one of the asteroids, the new planet # would have been Minerva. Had not Cronus been proposed by a certain detested # egocentric astronomer, that name might have been considered. Pluto, the # Greek god of the Lower World, seemed to be the best one to pick. Outside # of the Lowell staff, the name Pluto was first suggested by Miss Venetia # Burney, age eleven, of Oxford, England. It was cabled by Prof. H.H. Turner. [as explained in the StarDate article that started this topic] # Remembering that Uranus went through three name changes [Georgium Sidus, # the Georgian, Herschel, Uranus], we wanted to select a name that would # stick. Accordingly, the name Pluto was proposed to the AAS and the RAS # of England. Both of these bodies approved the name unanimously. By taking # the first two letters, the symbol became [PL ligature], for Percival Lowell. By the way, Tombaugh had only a high school education when he discovered Pluto. When he did get to go to university, they waived the introductory astronomy course. Some places just have no standards...:-) Mark Brader
woof@hpfclm.UUCP (woof) (04/13/85)
> There exists an interesting book on the > discovery of Pluto (so interesting, that I forgot its name!!!), that > covers all this. If I recall its name, I shall post it. The book is 'In Search of Planet X'. I got it from my gradeschool bookclub when I was a kid, thinking it was a sci-fi thriller. I enjoyed it, anyway. :-) It starts the history shortly before the discovery of Neptune. I don't know who the publisher is or whether it's still in print. Steve Wolf Hewlett-Packard Fort Collins, CO [hplabs,ihnp4]!hpfcla!woof