Pluto discoverer would understand demotion, says widow

An image made by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope in 2005 shows Pluto and its three moons Charon, Nix and Hydra.

WASHINGTON - The astronomer who found Pluto would have understood why his discovery was demoted to non-planet status because he was a good scientist, his widow said today.

"Clyde said, 'Well, it's there. You can do what you want with it,"' Patricia Tombaugh, 94, said from her home in Las Cruces, New Mexico.

Her husband Clyde W. Tombaugh, who discovered Pluto in 1930 while working at the Lowell Observatory in Arizona, was disappointed and frustrated when scientists began questioning its status.

But she said: "Clyde would have said, 'Science is a progressive thing and if you're going to be a scientist and put your neck out, you're apt to have it bitten upon."'

Tombaugh said a tiny amount of her husband's ashes were on a spacecraft bound for Pluto.

Meanwhile, astrologers foretell no major changes in the way they read the heavens because of the move.

Russell Grant, a British astrologer and best-selling author, said Pluto's planetary demotion was not a surprise after years of discussion and he would not change the charts he uses for his clients or millions of visitors to his website.

"I personally am shaken not stirred," Grant said in a telephone interview from Britain. "It's very interesting that Pluto's been downgraded in a planetary sense because he could never be downgraded in a mythological sense.

"I will continue to use Pluto because he gives me the ability to look into people's charts and see where they're coming from psychologically," he said.

Grant noted that astrologers had long used non-planets, such as Earth's moon. He also charts several asteroids, which are inside the solar system but much smaller than planets.

Astrology, the belief that the relative position of celestial bodies can help in the understanding of human affairs and earthly events, arose several millenniums ago. Although hugely popular, it is quite separate from the modern scientific study of astronomy.

"Astronomers have had several cases in the past where they've made changes in the objects used by astrologers," said Lee Lehman, academic dean of Kepler College in Seattle, the only institute in the Western Hemisphere to award degrees in astrological studies.

Lehman said it took several decades for astrologers to reach a consensus on the relevance of Pluto after its discovery in 1930.

One of the reasons astronomers unseated Pluto was that technological advances made them aware it was actually smaller than a body discovered in 2003 and nicknamed Xena, after the warrior princess in the television show.

"There is now quite a bit of interest now in the astrological community about Xena," Lehman said, without being able to predict whether the body would have a significant impact on astrology.

Grant said Xena had limited use as its position meant it would currently only affect people whose sun signs were in Pisces and Aries, just two of 12 constellations in the zodiac, a celestial band observed by astrologers.

- REUTERS