The Moon That Came Out of No Where
Introduction:
Pluto requires a large telescope to find even if you know where to look. Now imagine finding its even smaller moon which may feel almost impossible to find especially now that we know Pluto’s moon Charon is half that size of Pluto! Well, that is exactly what James Christy and Robert Harrington did. James came across a rare finding while completing a regular examination of the sky. When looking at the image he noticed a bizarre blurry speck on it that piqued his curiosity. He took this curiosity and confided in his colleague Robert Harrington in which he confidently confirmed a rare finding. This was a massive discovery as recent years many had doubts about Lowell’s theory for a planet beyond Neptune. Not only did years to follow bring the discovery of Pluto but its massive moon as well. Although Christy and Harrington ultimately discovered Charon they continued to work from the scientists before them, specifically Percival Lowell and Clyde Tombaugh.
Characteristics of Moon Chasers
Percival Lowell was the first to hypothesize a planet beyond Neptune, so I only find it fair we look at who he was first. Lowell was the first born into a wealthy Boston family in Cambridge Massachusetts in 1855. Lowell’s father was Augustus Lowell who was a successful businessman and philanthropist. For his education Lowell in his early years attending a boarding school in Paris in which he became fluent in French. He then moved onto a family tradition and got his degree at Harvard with a specialization in Mathematics. He became well known for his belief of Martian life on mars as he observed canals on Mars. Although this theory was denied he also believed there to be a ninth planet beyond Neptune in which he labeled planet X. Lowell unfortunately passed away in 1916 and passed his work over to Clyde Tombaugh.
Clyde Tombaugh was also the first born into his family of 8 from Kansas. He grew up mostly helping his father with their farm and then eventually caught an interest in astronomy where he made homemade telescopes and read much of Lowell’s work including his theory of canals on Mars. Although Tombaugh had little background experience in Astronomy, he was offered a position by the Lowell observatory that changed his life forever. Even though he had little background in Astronomy he had an interest and was known for being diligent and highly intelligent. He later went on to get his bachelors and master’s from the University of Kansas and went on to teaching at Mexico State University between 1955 and 1973 where he then retired.
We then move on to James Christy and Robert Harrington. At the time of their findings, they both worked at the U.S. Naval Observatory in Arizona where they worked taking routine examinations of the sky. Christy was born in 1938 and always seemed to have an interest in astronomy and gazing up at the stars. His interest in astronomy is what lead him to work at the U.S. Naval Observatory in Arizona. Harrington was born in 1942 in Newport Virginia. His father was also interested in science and was an archeologist. He had a passion for astronomy and worked on many theories involving planet X.
Continuous Search for Planet X
Although Lowell was looked at by many as crazy, his idea of a ninth planet beyond Neptune was right on track. While he was a student at Harvard, he attended a few lectures by Benjamin Pierce. On one of his lectures, he talked about how he believed the discovery of Neptune was fake as they got Neptune’s mass, orbit, and brightness incorrect. This made Lowell begin to wonder if a ninth planet could cause Neptune’s orbit to deviate. By 1908, Lowell had theorized there to be a ninth planet in which he called planet X. He had over 400 photographic plates sent over from flagstaff in which he desperately searched to find it. An old friend named William Pickering begun to also search for this ninth planet beyond Neptune and Lowell begun to worry that he was not going to find planet X before Pickering. However, he quickly died down as he knew Pickering’s calculations were not as good as his. He continued his search until 1916 when he passed and was unable to discover this ninth planet.
Once Lowell passed, Lowell observatory reached out to Clyde Tombaugh who then continued the search for planet X. He went on to discover a small shiny point of light that supported Lowell’s beliefs of a 9th planet however it was not a massive gas planet as Lowell hypothesized but rather a small icy dot. Even with little experience it took only a year for Tombaugh to find Pluto. Pluto was found to be in the Kuiper belt that was first hypothesized by F.C. Leonard in 1930.
How to Find a Moon
James Christy was a young astronomer who was working at the U.S. Naval Observatory in Arizona in 1978 when he captured a blurry speck next to Pluto while completing a routine examination of the sky (see figure 1). He reached out to his colleague Harrington who confirmed that the image showed Pluto to have a moon, and a large one at that. What was most interesting is that both Pluto and Pluto’s moon was discovered at the U.S. Naval Observatory Flagstaff. Pluto was originally discovered in 1930 by Clyde Tombaugh who continued the work to find planet X after the passing of Lowell.
So, what now?
Many
believed that Charon who was first discovered by James Christy would be a crater
battered moon (see figure 2). However instead Charon was found to have giant
mountains, landslides, canyons, and mysterious polar caps. This was discovered
in 2015 when NASA was able to capture images during a ‘fly by’ capturing images
of Pluto and its moon Charon. What was interesting is that Pluto had not just one
moon but four other moons within Pluto’s system. These include Kerberos, Styx,
Nyx, and Hydra and during the fly by they were able to see that Hydra has an
irregular shape and was estimated to be about 43 by 33 Kilometers. Hydra is
also believed to be coated with a thin layer of water ice. Researching and
imaging allowed for scientists to continue to build upon one another, if the
four scientists (Lowell, Tombaugh, Christy, and Harrington) never discovered
Pluto and its moon we may have never been able to know what we now know. We see
scientists continue to work off one another in order to find rare and amazing
discoveries such as Pluto and its moons!
Conclusion:
Christy and Harrington discovered Pluto’s moon during a routine examination, this shows that not all discoveries require one to think outside the box or to walk miles on miles to measure Earth’s size. However, it does show that the things we consider small in science such as regular examinations/ observations are so important within science and can be accomplished by many who strive to get there! What is your passion and how can you use it to influence the science world today?
References:
Barnett, A. (n.d.). James Christy, Co-Discoverer of Charon, Pluto's Largest Moon. NASA.
Bryson, B. (2016). A short history of nearly everything. London: Black Swan.
Davis, R. (2018, May 3). Robert S. Harrington - The Astronomer in Search of Planet X. 6 Sense Media.
James W. Christy. THS Badger Foundation. (n.d.). https://www.badgerfoundation.org/james-w-christy/.
Mooney, M. (2021, February 26). Who Was Clyde Tombaugh? Lowell Observatory.
https://lowell.edu/who-was-clyde-tombaugh/.
Northon, K. (2015, July 15). From Mountains to Moons: Multiple Discoveries from NASA's New Horizons.
Percival Lowell. Famous Scientists. (2018, May 3). https://www.famousscientists.org/percival-lowell/.
Talbert, T. (2015, October 1). Pluto's Big Moon Charon Reveals a Colorful and Violent History. NASA.
https://www.nasa.gov/feature/pluto-s-big-moon-charon-reveals-a-colorful-and-violent-history.
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