 放大圖片
美國天文學家克萊德．湯博（1906~1997）在1930年發現了冥王星。當時24歲的湯博還沒有大學畢業，只不過由於他熱愛行星觀測（圖右），便被羅威爾天文台聘任負責巡天拍攝，尋找第九顆行星的工作。當時他只使用1支13英寸直徑的拍攝用望遠鏡（圖左）。湯博從1929年開始他的巡天拍攝，在短短7年內除發現了冥王星外，還找到14顆新的小行星。至於冥王星的命名，卻非出於湯博或羅威爾眾天文學家的構思。這顆當時的第九行星名字，原來是由一個居於英國的11歲小女孩凡妮提婭．布爾尼所建議。取名為冥王星既合乎以羅馬天神命名的傳統，且冥王星英文串法首兩個字母更包含了羅威爾天文台創辦人帕西瓦爾．羅威爾的姓名縮寫。1930年，和路迪士尼也創造了米老鼠的寵物狗，並為牠取名為Pluto。
Pluto, stories you don't know
When Clyde W. Tombaugh (1906–1997) discovered Pluto in 1930, he was just a 24-year-old undergrad (right inset). Being a skillful planetary observer, he was offered a job by the Lowell Observatory to do a systematic search for the so-called Planet X. Using the 13-inch astrograph (left inset), Tombaugh also discovered 14 asteroids within 7 years. The name‘Pluto’was actually suggested by a 11-year-old school girl, Venetia Burney, who lived in England. The proposal followed the tradition of naming a planet after a Roman god. Pluto was the god of the underworld. There is another sentimental reason. The first two letters of Pluto is also the initial for Percival Lowell, founder of the Lowell Observatory. In 1930 Walt Disney also gave Mickey Mouse a pet dog and later named it Pluto. ■甄枝強 資深天文愛好者 ■圖片來源：ESA, NASA
|
放大圖片
