19h 47m 19h 46m 19h 45m 20h 00m 19h 44m 19h 50m Path 19h 40m -22° of Pl uto -24° SAGITTARIUS US 52 Star magnitudes -22° 30' 16 24 20 20 24 16 28 12 Sept 1 5 8 Nov 4 9 4 5 6 7 8 9 ω -26° SAO 188509 13 17 21 25 29 Path of Pluto Oct 3 7 31 27 23 19 15 11 -23° 00' Z Terebellum SAGITTARIUS SAO 188511 to look because the speck is now part of a pattern. In my 15-inch reflector, Pluto stands out well at around 200×. Returning to the field the next clear night to see if your suspect has shifted position is a good strategy to confirm your initial sighting. Catching Pluto on the move is also the method used by Clyde Tombaugh in 1930 when he discovered Pluto by methodically examining photographic plates captured on different nights. Pluto's motion over a 24-hour span will probably suffice for a positive identification, especially if the erstwhile planet happens to pass near a field star. On July 17th when it's at opposition, Pluto will be nearly 5 billion kilometers (3 billion miles) from Earth and crawling west in retrograde motion at the rate of about 1.4′ per day. That's a distance 2½ times greater than the separation between the component stars of the famed double Albireo in Cygnus. Pluto seekers embark on a journey to an exotic land. With a bit of planning and steady seeing, your adventure will take you to remote country visited by few. Your destination is the Kuiper Belt - a cold and distant place where you'll see a globe enrobed in icy nitrogen, methane, and carbon monoxide. Your impression of Pluto, like other difficult targets, is largely about what you bring to the telescope eyepiece. That includes knowledge of the subject and its history. Equally important is the effort you expend in finding it - all of which adds to the pleasure of accomplishing the journey. s k y a n d t e l e s c o p e . o r g * J U LY 2 0 2 1 49http://www.skyandtelescope.org