In 2017 Out of the Darkness by Clyde Tombaugh was published. Co-authored by astronomer and author Patrick Moore and with a forward by Dr. James W. Christy, Out of the Darkness is a delightful and informative story of discovery with astronomical gravitas.
Why This Story Matters:
- A Scientific Marathon: Experience the grueling year-long search where Tombaugh examined millions of star images to find one faint, moving speck.
- The Last Great Pioneer: While the inner planets were known since antiquity, Pluto was the first to be found through the modern marriage of orbital math and sheer human persistence.
- A World of Mystery: Discover the secrets of a frozen frontier 3.6 billion miles away, where the Sun is merely a bright star and a single year lasts over 247 Earth years.
- The Human Element: Follow the charmingly humble story of a young man who, after finding a planet, simply went to the movies to celebrate—even as his “mind’s eye” remained fixed on the heavens.
Beyond the Ninth Planet
From the discovery of its moon, Charon, to the theory that Pluto is an escaped satellite of Neptune, this book captures the intrigue that still surrounds the edge of our solar system. Out of the Darkness isn’t just a history of astronomy; it’s an adventure in discovery that proves how far grit and a homemade telescope can take you.
Clyde Tombaugh 