The scientist who found Pluto, Clyde Tombaugh, followed its velocity between January 23, 1930 and January 29, 1930, when the first and second photographs of the planet were taken.
Pluto made its presence known to Tombaugh around this time. 1930 was the year when astronomer Clyde Tombaugh made the discovery of the minor planet Pluto.
In 1949, however, he and his family had an extraordinary encounter with a UFO in their New Mexico garden.
Over his entire career, he declared on several times that he had witnessed inexplicable occurrences in the sky.
The discoverer of Pluto, Clyde Tombaugh
In January of 1930, astronomer Clyde W. Tombaugh was responsible for discovering the planet Pluto. On the evening of August 20, 1949, at around 10:45 p.m., he, his wife, and his mother-in-law observed something that had the potential to progress science. As the event occurred, all three witnesses were standing in the backyard of the Tombaughs' Las Cruces, New Mexico, home, gazing at the sky.
"When I happened to be observing the zenith, I spotted a collection of dim bluish-green rectangles of light like the Lubbock lights. As the group proceeded south-southeastward, the individual rectangles shrank, their region of formation shrunk (at first, it was roughly one degree across, or twice the diameter of the full moon), and their brightness diminished, disappearing at around 35 degrees above the horizon. The duration of visibility was around three seconds altogether. I was too awestruck to count the number of light rectangles or make any other observations that I pondered a year later. There was silence. I've spent many hours observing the night sky, but I've never witnessed a phenomenon as bizarre as this. If there had been a full moon in the sky, I am confident that the light rectangles would not have been seen. My wife said she noticed a faint light linking the building. The lit rectangles I observed did keep a stable position relative to one another, which seems to strengthen the sensation of solidity."
In 1953 astronomer and UFO debunker Donald H. Menzel:
"Had a hunch... that a thin coating of haze or smoke reflected the light from a distant house or other various sources."
Tombaugh said in writing that he did not agree with his colleague's idea.
"I doubt that the incident was a terrestrial reflection, since if it were, it would have occurred several times, yet nothing comparable has ever occurred before or subsequently."
Clyde Tompson
An atmospheric scientist, James E. Mcdonald, found Menzel's idea plausible:
"Physically ludicrous, no inversion ever recorded in the annals of meteorology could account for the near-normal occurrence at hand."
In a letter he wrote to ufologist Leonard H. Stringfield in 1956, Tombaugh claimed to have had more encounters with unidentified flying objects (UFOs):
"During the past seven years, I have witnessed three objects that defy any recognized explanation, such as Venus, atmospheric optics, meteors, or aircraft. I am a competent astronomer with exceptional observational skills. In addition, I have witnessed three green fireballs that behaved differently from dozens of other green fireballs. I believe that the refusal of some respected scientists to consider the idea of alien origin and nature is unscientific.
Tombaugh's perspectives on the relevance of what he had witnessed changed dramatically over time. The Associated Press stated in January 1957 that he strongly favored the possibility of interstellar travel. Tombaugh issued a statement in the early 1960s that supported Menzel's atmospheric-reflection hypothesis, despite his past rejection of it.
In a complete reversal of a prior claim, he said that the fact that he had never witnessed anything comparable before or afterwards proved that it was a natural phenomena, although a "quite unusual" one. Due to difficulties, he considered that visitation from other solar systems was nearly impossible.
Yet, in a telephone conversation with McDonald on October 24, 1966, Tombaugh indicated that UFOs "deserve careful scientific investigation by trustworthy experts" and that the possibility of alien presence existed. In 1975, he stated that he was unable to explain what he had seen, describing it as "a very open subject."
Tombaugh told J. Allen Hynek, an astronomer and Project Blue Book adviser, about a second sighting that occurred a few of years after the first. Hynek wrote in a confidential memorandum and it was previously stated:
"When at telescope No. 3 at White Sands (proving site), Tombaugh spotted a -6 magnitude object (four times brighter than Venus at its brightest) traveling from the zenith to the southern horizon in approximately three seconds. The item performed the same moves as the glowing nighttime object.