Editor’s note: This story was originally published on Aug. 24, 2024.

A look back at local, national and world events through Deseret News archives.

On Aug. 24, 2006, the International Astronomical Union declared that Pluto was no longer a full-fledged planet, demoting it to the status of a “dwarf planet.”

And people the world over who probably had not thought much about the solar system’s tiniest planet protested. The decision was felt most by the family of Clyde Tombaugh, who spotted the planet in 1930 while on lookout at Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona.

Pluto, which is in fact smaller than Earth’s moon, was quickly heralded as the ninth planet in the solar system when it was spotted Feb. 18, 1930, by Tombaugh, a young amateur astronomer stationed at Lowell Observatory.

With

See Full Page