<p>In the <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=nP01DwAAQBAJ&amp;lpg=PA7&amp;ots=I1WMODkCQd&amp;lr&amp;pg=PA17#v=onepage&amp;q&amp;f=false" rel="nofollow noreferrer">first chapter</a> of <em>Out of the Darkness: The Planet Pluto</em>, Tombaugh gives a colorful, personal account of his youth in Illinois and Kansas, including five telescopes:</p>

<ul>
<li>his uncle's uncorrected 3-inch refractor</li>
<li>a 2.25-inch achromatic Sears-Roebuck refractor his father and uncle shared</li>
<li>a mediocre 8-inch reflector he made in 1926</li>
<li>a better 7-inch reflector he made for his uncle</li>
<li>an excellent 9-inch reflector he made in 1928</li>
</ul>

<p>The last two benefited from optical testing in a storm cellar built extra long for that purpose.
Tombaugh's planetary sketches using the 9-inch reflector got him the job at Lowell Observatory.</p>

<p>The same photo appears on <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=nP01DwAAQBAJ&amp;lpg=PA7&amp;ots=I1WMODkCQd&amp;lr&amp;pg=PA23#v=onepage&amp;q&amp;f=false" rel="nofollow noreferrer">page 23</a> with this caption:</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>Clyde W. Tombaugh, at the age of twenty-two, with his homemade 9-inch (22.9-centimeter) reflecting telescope on the family farm near Burdett, Kansas.
  This picture was taken in the summer of 1928, eighteen months before the discovery of Pluto.</p>
</blockquote>

<p><a href="https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap970204.html" rel="nofollow noreferrer">APOD 1997-02-04</a> (&copy; 1996 K. Beatty) shows him at age 89 with the same telescope in New Mexico.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-08-11T15:58:20.460Z
excellent and well-sourced answer, thanks!
uhoh
CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-08-11T15:23:57.617Z
2019-08-11T15:40:13.540Z
2019-08-11T15:40:13.540Z
Mike G
<p>Astronomer <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clyde_Tombaugh" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Clyde Tombaugh</a> is shown in a now-famous photograph at the age of 24 with his &quot;homemade&quot; 9-inch Newtonian telescope in <a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Clyde_W._Tombaugh.jpeg" rel="nofollow noreferrer">this image</a> also shown in Elva R. O'Hara's <a href="http://epcc.libguides.com/c.php?g=754275&amp;p=5406043" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Clyde W. Tombaugh: Farm Boy Reached for the Stars</a>.</p>
<p>Shown in the photo, the telescope tube is marked with something like</p>
<blockquote>
<p>9 INCH AP</p>
<p>NEWTONIAN TELESCOPE</p>
<p>79 INCH FOCUS</p>
</blockquote>
<p>along the length of the tube, and illegibly with</p>
<blockquote>
<p>OHIO-...</p>
</blockquote>
<p>and some other markings in a different, light-toned printing around the circumference of the tube.</p>
<p>According to the <a href="http://epcc.libguides.com/c.php?g=754275&amp;p=5406043" rel="nofollow noreferrer">linked article</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Tombaugh was born on Feb. 4, 1906, in Streator, Ill. He might have been a typical farm boy but for his one fascination: astronomy. Through the influence of his father and an uncle, the 12-year-old Tombaugh began observing the night sky. <strong>He spent hundreds of hours using a 9-inch telescope bought at Sears and Roebuck</strong>, learning to methodically identify stars and constellations as well as to observe the movements of the planets.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>But on page 243 of Gary Leonard Cameron
Iowa State University 2010 thesis <a href="https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2773&amp;context=etd" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Public skies: telescopes and the popularization of astronomy in the twentieth century</a> it says:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Sears Roebuck had only a few cheap hand-held telescopes for sale in its catalogues from the 1920s to the 1940s. However, by 1961, Sears had a total of nine models of astronomical telescope for sale, all Japanese imports under the Tower label.</p>
</blockquote>
<p><strong>Question:</strong> So exactly what is the origin of Clyde Tombaugh's 8-inch Newtonian telescope?</p>
<hr />
<p>Cropped from Elva R. O'Hara's <a href="http://epcc.libguides.com/c.php?g=754275&amp;p=5406043" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Clyde W. Tombaugh: Farm Boy Reached for the Stars</a>:</p>
<p><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/JIJIj.jpg" alt="enter image description here" /></p>
<p>The description there says:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Image caption:  Clyde W. Tombaugh shared a homemade telescope with his father and uncle.  Photo courtesy of <a href="http://archphotos.nmsu.edu/keyword.cfm" rel="nofollow noreferrer">NMSU Library Archives and Special Collections</a></p>
</blockquote>
<p>Description <a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Clyde_W._Tombaugh.jpeg" rel="nofollow noreferrer">here</a> says:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>The astronomer Clyde Tombaugh, discoverer of Pluto here shown with his homemade 9-inch telescope. Date: circa 1930</p>
</blockquote>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-08-11T05:33:57.293Z
@JamesK thanks, there's another error; "8-inch" in the first sentence needs to be changed to "9-inch".
uhoh
CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-08-11T05:36:47.023Z
I'm not sure, you could read the printing on the telescope as "8 inch AP"
James K
CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-08-11T05:38:24.203Z
@JamesK The block quote says 9 inch, I'd read 8 like you from the photo but it's low quality, so I'm now sticking with the cited authoritative source. I'll change it myself to be consistent with 9 used elsewhere in my post.
uhoh
CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-08-11T05:50:55.977Z
Fair enough, It's no an answer, but that one looks homemade. The "OHIO" markings look like the pipe was designed for something else, and "Newtonian Telescope" looks to be hand stencilled.
James K
CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-08-11T05:54:47.393Z
@JamesK I agree 100%. If it was from the Sears catalog it might have *Sears & Roebuck written on it as well*.
uhoh
<telescope><amateur-observing><history><telescope-making>
What's the origin of Clyde Tombaugh's 9-inch Newtonian telescope?
uhoh
# What's the origin of Clyde Tombaugh's 9-inch Newtonian telescope?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2019-08-11)

Astronomer [Clyde Tombaugh](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clyde_Tombaugh) is shown in a now-famous photograph at the age of 24 with his "homemade" 9-inch Newtonian telescope in [this image](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Clyde_W._Tombaugh.jpeg) also shown in Elva R. O'Hara's [Clyde W. Tombaugh: Farm Boy Reached for the Stars](http://epcc.libguides.com/c.php?g=754275&p=5406043).

Shown in the photo, the telescope tube is marked with something like

> 9 INCH AP
>
> NEWTONIAN TELESCOPE
>
> 79 INCH FOCUS

along the length of the tube, and illegibly with

> OHIO-...

and some other markings in a different, light-toned printing around the circumference of the tube.

According to the [linked article](http://epcc.libguides.com/c.php?g=754275&p=5406043):

> Tombaugh was born on Feb. 4, 1906, in Streator, Ill. He might have been a typical farm boy but for his one fascination: astronomy. Through the influence of his father and an uncle, the 12-year-old Tombaugh began observing the night sky. **He spent hundreds of hours using a 9-inch telescope bought at Sears and Roebuck**, learning to methodically identify stars and constellations as well as to observe the movements of the planets.

But on page 243 of Gary Leonard Cameron
Iowa State University 2010 thesis [Public skies: telescopes and the popularization of astronomy in the twentieth century](https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2773&context=etd) it says:

> Sears Roebuck had only a few cheap hand-held telescopes for sale in its catalogues from the 1920s to the 1940s. However, by 1961, Sears had a total of nine models of astronomical telescope for sale, all Japanese imports under the Tower label.

**Question:** So exactly what is the origin of Clyde Tombaugh's 8-inch Newtonian telescope?

---

Cropped from Elva R. O'Hara's [Clyde W. Tombaugh: Farm Boy Reached for the Stars](http://epcc.libguides.com/c.php?g=754275&p=5406043):

![enter image description here](https://i.sstatic.net/JIJIj.jpg)

The description there says:

> Image caption: Clyde W. Tombaugh shared a homemade telescope with his father and uncle. Photo courtesy of [NMSU Library Archives and Special Collections](http://archphotos.nmsu.edu/keyword.cfm)

Description [here](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Clyde_W._Tombaugh.jpeg) says:

> The astronomer Clyde Tombaugh, discoverer of Pluto here shown with his homemade 9-inch telescope. Date: circa 1930

**Tags:** telescope, amateur-observing, history, telescope-making
> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: @JamesK thanks, there's another error; "8-inch" in the first sentence needs to be changed to "9-inch".  
> **username_1**: I'm not sure, you could read the printing on the telescope as "8 inch AP"  
> **username_0**: @JamesK The block quote says 9 inch, I'd read 8 like you from the photo but it's low quality, so I'm now sticking with the cited authoritative source. I'll change it myself to be consistent with 9 used elsewhere in my post.  
> **username_1**: Fair enough, It's no an answer, but that one looks homemade. The "OHIO" markings look like the pipe was designed for something else, and "Newtonian Telescope" looks to be hand stencilled.  
> **username_0**: @JamesK I agree 100%. If it was from the Sears catalog it might have *Sears & Roebuck written on it as well*.  

---

## 1 answers

### Answer by username_2 on 2019-08-11. Score: 4 | Accepted answer

In the [first chapter](https://books.google.com/books?id=nP01DwAAQBAJ&lpg=PA7&ots=I1WMODkCQd&lr&pg=PA17#v=onepage&q&f=false) of *Out of the Darkness: The Planet Pluto*, Tombaugh gives a colorful, personal account of his youth in Illinois and Kansas, including five telescopes:

* his uncle's uncorrected 3-inch refractor
* a 2.25-inch achromatic Sears-Roebuck refractor his father and uncle shared
* a mediocre 8-inch reflector he made in 1926
* a better 7-inch reflector he made for his uncle
* an excellent 9-inch reflector he made in 1928

The last two benefited from optical testing in a storm cellar built extra long for that purpose.
Tombaugh's planetary sketches using the 9-inch reflector got him the job at Lowell Observatory.

The same photo appears on [page 23](https://books.google.com/books?id=nP01DwAAQBAJ&lpg=PA7&ots=I1WMODkCQd&lr&pg=PA23#v=onepage&q&f=false) with this caption:

> Clyde W. Tombaugh, at the age of twenty-two, with his homemade 9-inch (22.9-centimeter) reflecting telescope on the family farm near Burdett, Kansas.
> This picture was taken in the summer of 1928, eighteen months before the discovery of Pluto.

[APOD 1997-02-04](https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap970204.html) (© 1996 K. Beatty) shows him at age 89 with the same telescope in New Mexico.

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: excellent and well-sourced answer, thanks!  

---

