locate the hypothetical planet, which he termed
Planet X. He began his search for this planet in
the early 1900s without success. In December
1929, a young amateur astronomer, Clyde
Tombaugh, was hired to continue the search. His
research eventually led to the first sighting on
February 18, 1930 after conducting a very careful
sky survey and examining hundreds of plate
pairs. The official discovery was announced
March 13 on Lowell’s 75th birthday.
Scientists at the Lowell Observatory
requested suggestions from the public for the
naming of Planet X. Many names were proposed,
including Atlas, Minerva, Apollo, Zeus, Perseus,
and Vulcan. However, its name came as a result
of a letter from Venetia Burney, an 11-year-old
schoolgirl in Oxford, England, who recommend-
ed it be named after the Disney character, Pluto.
It is possible that this idea was accepted based on
the fact that the planet is in perpetual darkness
(from the myth of Pluto, the Roman god of the
underworld) and because the first letters, “PL,”
are the initials of Percival Lowell.
Pluto, also known as Hades, the brother
of Zeus and Posiedon in the Greek culture, was a
grim deity, yet not a totally evil one. He rarely
ventured from the underworld, which he inher-
ited following the defeat of the Titans. When he
did travel the overworld, he hid himself with a
helmet of invisibility. He was also called the
God of Wealth from not only the precious met-
als hidden in the earth, but also the fact that the number of his subjects—the dead—
could only increase. Over time, a gradual idea of judgment entered the myths of Hades,
associating him with the idea of punishment and reward. Most souls were said to spend
life after death in the dreary Meadows of Asphodel. Evil sinners were doomed to tor-
ture for eternity in Tartarus, while heros resided in Elysium enjoying feasts and games.
The myth surrounding Pluto’s wife, Persephone, is symbolic of the origins of
the seasons. Persephone was the only daughter of the goddess Demeter. While Perse-
phone was out picking flowers, a chasm opened up revealing Pluto. He quickly pulled
her into the underworld and made her his wife and Queen of the Lower World. Deme-
ter scoured the land looking for her daughter and once she discovered what had
occurred, she was grief-stricken. She wandered the land alone, bringing famine to the
earth in her grief. The people called out to Zeus for assistance and he answered by
ordering Hades to release Persephone. However, she had already eaten a pomegranate
seed. Having fed upon and drank from the goods of the underworld, she was obligated
THEASTROLOGYBOOK [539]
PlutoPluto, ruler of the underworld, with the three-headed
dog, Cerberus, at his feet. From Jack Bryant’s New
System,1774. Reproduced by permission of Fortean
Picture Library.