Tombaugh Telescope Official Dedication

Today in Animas, New Mexico, at the Rancho Hidalgo housing development, the 16-inch telescope used by Pluto discoverer Clyde Tombaugh in his later years will be officially dedicated at its new home, where it will serve as a centerpiece in a new educational program.Members of the Tombaugh family and Tombaugh biographer David Levy, one of the discoverers of Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9, which hit Jupiter in 1994, will be present for the dedication.As an interesting note, in his later years, Tombaugh was aware of the controversy surrounding Pluto's status. Levy reportedly promised Tombaugh that he would always be a voice for Pluto's planethood, even after Tombaugh was gone.The 16-inch telescope at Rancho Hidalgo has been refurbished and updated for frequent use. Gene Turner, one of the developers of this community, emphasizes that there are many people eager to look through Tombaugh's telescope. Personally, he has set himself a goal of viewing Pluto and Charon through the telescope as two separate objects, a feat rarely accomplished by amateur astronomers. Charon is half the size of Pluto and very close to the planet, which is why for so long, astronomers believed Pluto was far larger than it really is. Until the discovery of ...