This week, I take on the long-simmering controversy over whether Pluto is a planet, a dwarf planet or an upside down pineapple cake. Enjoy!
Michael Siegel
Michael Siegel is an astronomer living in Pennsylvania. He blogs at his own site, and has written a novel.
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Great explanation of the history and meaning of Pluto and the decision about its classification.
You did leave one dangling mystery: If Pluto was too small to cause the perturbations seen in Neptune’s orbit, what did?Report
Clyde Tombaugh’s story is one of the really great ones in astronomy and was inspirational to me as a boy. Perhaps’s Hubble’s discovery of red-shifting, the year before Tombaugh found Pluto, was cosmically more significant (see what I did there?) but Tombaugh’s was kind of sexier.Report
Pluto IS a planet, and will remain one at least until my last breath.😇
Seriously, I didn’t take it well 15 years ago, and I’m not over it. Since I was a kid vaguely interested in astronomy, Neptune, and Pluto were my favorite and I would read every scrap of information on both. I was thrilled to find out that Pluto had a moon, Charon. It made if part of tbe big boys league (take that, Mercury and Venus).Report