Clyde Tombaugh is shown in 1980 with the 27-inch telescope he helped make operational as part of his master's thesis.The 100th anniversary of his birth was recently celebrated. An observatory at KU is named for him but is no longer open.

On Feb. 18, 1930, a future KU graduate discovered the planet Pluto. Although three quarters of a century have passed since Clyde Tombaugh's historic discovery, his contributions to astronomy and KU live on. Last week, the Department of Physics and Astronomy celebrated the 100th anniversary of Tombaugh's birth, and young astronomers are still using part of the telescope he used during his KU days.

The department marked the anniversary with a celebration featuring a speaker with a more recent tie to the planet Pluto and a star party.

Alan Stern, the lead scientist for New Horizon, a recently launched space mission to Pluto, was the featured guest at the event. Following his talk, attendees set up telescopes on the hill near Memorial Stadium and viewed stars and Mars and Jupiter. The Astronomy Associates of Lawrence sponsored the event.

The spirit of Tombaugh was associated with astronomy at KU long after he graduated in 1936. An observatory bearing his name sitting atop Lindley Hall was dedicated in 1980. It featured a 27-inch telescope he helped perfect. Tombaugh didn't invent the particular model of the telescope, but he did test it and help improve upon its design.

For the next 20 years, KU students and the stargazing public used the observatory to observe the heavens. It closed in October 2001.

"The roof is not considered safe for the general public," said Bruce Twarog, professor of physics and astronomy.

When the observatory closed, the department began looking for another campus rooftop upon which it could house an observatory. Eventually it decided the best location was on top of the skyboxes at Memorial Stadium.

Astronomy classes and labs are held on the stadium's roof, and about once a month, public star viewings are held. The events are coordinated with the athletic department, as the glaring lights used at night football games or track meets would render star viewing impossible.

Since the closing of the observatory atop Lindley Hall, discussions have been held about opening a new, permanent observatory. The plans have been stalled by a lack of funding.

"Like most projects, it will take some time and money to be able to do that," said Barbara Anthony Twarog, professor of physics and astronomy, who helped organize the anniversary celebration.

Original plans were to move to a site near Clinton Lake. But the project was never carried out because of lack of funding and logistics.

"We had a three-phase plan to do that. There were just no funds to do it with," Bruce Twarog said.

Because of the distance from campus, students would have had needed to be bused to the site.

Discussions have been held recently on the possibility of a new observatory on west campus. Bruce Twarog said it would cost between $100,000 and $150,000 to construct a new observatory.

Though plans for a new observatory have not advanced, the 27-inch telescope in the old Tombaugh Observatory has found a new home.

The mirror of the telescope was salvaged, and the Northeast Kansas Amateur Astronomy League received a grant from NASA to rebuild around it. The telescope is now mounted at Farpoint Observatory on the grounds of Mission Valley High School near Eskridge. NEKAAL uses the scope to look for asteroids. The group has been charting orbits of asteroids with the scope to help identify asteroids that could potentially collide with Earth.