Pluto's position on APril 7th 1997 was RA=16h 23m 05s and Dec=-8d 31' 13" with a visual magnitude of +13.7. There is a +6 to +7 magnitude star near 16h 22m and -8d 40' less than 1/4 degree from Pluto, and from a clear site you might confuse this faint star with Pluto...which is over 900 times fainter than the eye can see.