HOME

TheInfoList



Click Here for Items Related To - How I Killed Pluto And Why It Had It Coming
OR:
How I Killed Pluto And Why It Had It Coming on:   [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Amazon]

''How I Killed Pluto and Why It Had It Coming'' is the 2010 memoir by Mike Brown, the American
astronomer An astronomer is a scientist in the field of astronomy who focuses on a specific question or field outside the scope of Earth. Astronomers observe astronomical objects, such as stars, planets, natural satellite, moons, comets and galaxy, galax ...
most responsible for the reclassification of
Pluto Pluto (minor-planet designation: 134340 Pluto) is a dwarf planet in the Kuiper belt, a ring of Trans-Neptunian object, bodies beyond the orbit of Neptune. It is the ninth-largest and tenth-most-massive known object to directly orbit the Su ...
from
planet A planet is a large, Hydrostatic equilibrium, rounded Astronomical object, astronomical body that is generally required to be in orbit around a star, stellar remnant, or brown dwarf, and is not one itself. The Solar System has eight planets b ...
to
dwarf planet A dwarf planet is a small planetary-mass object that is in direct orbit around the Sun, massive enough to be hydrostatic equilibrium, gravitationally rounded, but insufficient to achieve clearing the neighbourhood, orbital dominance like the ...
.


Summary

The memoir is an account of the events surrounding the redefinition of the term ''planet'' that eventually changed the status of Pluto. It chronicles the discovery of Eris, a dwarf planet then mistakenly thought to be larger than Pluto, located within the
scattered disc The scattered disc (or scattered disk) is a distant circumstellar disc in the Solar System that is sparsely populated by icy small Solar System bodies, which are a subset of the broader family of trans-Neptunian objects. The scattered-disc obj ...
, beyond Neptune's orbit. The replaying of events includes the adversarial challenging of long-held scientific beliefs between some of the world's leading astronomers and the eventual 2006
International Astronomical Union The International Astronomical Union (IAU; , UAI) is an international non-governmental organization (INGO) with the objective of advancing astronomy in all aspects, including promoting astronomical research, outreach, education, and developmen ...
's vote that removed Pluto from the list of
Solar System The Solar SystemCapitalization of the name varies. The International Astronomical Union, the authoritative body regarding astronomical nomenclature, specifies capitalizing the names of all individual astronomical objects but uses mixed "Sola ...
planets.


Reviews

Reviews of the book have been generally positive, with James Kennedy of ''
The Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' (''WSJ''), also referred to simply as the ''Journal,'' is an American newspaper based in New York City. The newspaper provides extensive coverage of news, especially business and finance. It operates on a subscriptio ...
'' calling the book a "brisk" and "enjoyable ... chronicle" of the tale of the search for new planets and the eventual demotion of Pluto from planetary status. Janet Maslin of ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
'' called it a "short, eager-to-please research memoir".


See also

* List of former planets


References


Bibliography

* {{cite book , title = How I Killed Pluto and Why It Had It Coming , first = Michael E. , last = Brown , date = 2010 , isbn = 978-0-385-53108-5 , url = https://archive.org/details/howikilledplutow00mike 2010 non-fiction books Astronomy books Pluto's planethood American memoirs Michael E. Brown