Ad Astra

Seth McFarland 

February 28, 2023 

This weekend, as we celebrate Kansas Day, remember the state motto Ad Astra Per Aspera, and look towards the night sky. One benefit of Pawnee County, Kansas are the clear night skies. A rare green comet, identified as comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF), will be visible now through the early part of February. Astronomers say that the comet will be most visible as it will be closest to earth on February 1st and 2nd. You will either need a set of binoculars or a telescope in order to see it clearly.

 

Clyde Tombaugh, although most famous for discovering Pluto, also made several other astronomical discoveries, including discovering a comet. Astronomer David H. Levy wrote in his book "David Levy's Guide to Observing and Discovering Comets" that no comet was officially named after Tombaugh, although C/1931 AN was one of the comets discovered on the photographic glass plates that Tombaugh noted when he made his other discoveries including Pluto. Levy had interviewed Tombaugh in 1985. While Tombaugh had discovered clusters of galaxies, five open clusters, a globular cluster, many variable stars and hundreds of asteroids, he had also mentioned discovering a comet, although there was no official record of this comet in the International Comet Quarterly. Tombaugh had explained that he had found the comet on the plates months earlier in his research, but it was faded and he decided against reporting it.

 

Clyde Tombaugh said that the original plates were lost in the myriad of plates from 1929 to 1945. It would be like searching for a needle in a haystack in order to rediscover the plates observed 55 years earlier. In 1986, David Levy would visit the Lowell Observatory to inspect the multitude of plates. He found and compared them to the journal Astronomische Nachrichten which was the official record for asteroids and comets. Although Levy would report and file the rediscovered comet, it could not be officially recognized because the accurate orbit could not be determined. Because the comet is periodic, it may be rediscovered again someday, but in the meantime it will only be known as C/1931 AN.

 

Take time to look up, and you might be the one to solve the mystery of Tombaugh's elusive comet.