How I Killed Pluto and Why It Had It Coming

How I Killed Pluto and Why It Had It Coming
Author: Mike Brown
Publisher: Random House
Total Pages: 290
Release: 2012-01-24
Genre: Science
ISBN: 0385531109

The solar system most of us grew up with included nine planets, with Mercury closest to the sun and Pluto at the outer edge. Then, in 2005, astronomer Mike Brown made the discovery of a lifetime: a tenth planet, Eris, slightly bigger than Pluto. But instead of adding one more planet to our solar system, Brown’s find ignited a firestorm of controversy that culminated in the demotion of Pluto from real planet to the newly coined category of “dwarf” planet. Suddenly Brown was receiving hate mail from schoolchildren and being bombarded by TV reporters—all because of the discovery he had spent years searching for and a lifetime dreaming about. A heartfelt and personal journey filled with both humor and drama, How I Killed Pluto and Why It Had It Coming is the book for anyone, young or old, who has ever imagined exploring the universe—and who among us hasn’t?

From the Sun to Beyond Pluto--Reader's Theater Script & Fluency Lesson

From the Sun to Beyond Pluto--Reader's Theater Script & Fluency Lesson
Author: Stephanie Macceca
Publisher: Teacher Created Materials
Total Pages: 16
Release: 2014-03-01
Genre:
ISBN: 1425882692

This reader's theater script builds fluency through oral reading. The creative script captures students' interest, so they will want to practice and perform. Included is a fluency lesson and approximate reading levels for the script roles.

Beyond Pluto

Beyond Pluto
Author: John Davies
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 260
Release: 2001-07-19
Genre: Science
ISBN: 9781139428774

In the ten years preceding publication, the known solar system more than doubled in size. For the first time in almost two centuries an entirely new population of planetary objects was found. This 'Kuiper Belt' of minor planets beyond Neptune revolutionised our understanding of the solar system's formation and finally explained the origin of the enigmatic outer planet Pluto. This is the fascinating story of how theoretical physicists decided that there must be a population of unknown bodies beyond Neptune and how a small band of astronomers set out to find them. What they discovered was a family of ancient planetesimals whose orbits and physical properties were far more complicated than anyone expected. We follow the story of this discovery, and see how astronomers, theoretical physicists and one incredibly dedicated amateur observer came together to explore the frozen boundary of the solar system.

Chasing New Horizons

Chasing New Horizons
Author: Alan Stern
Publisher: Macmillan + ORM
Total Pages: 364
Release: 2018-05-01
Genre: Science
ISBN: 125009898X

Called "spellbinding" (Scientific American) and "thrilling...a future classic of popular science" (PW), the up close, inside story of the greatest space exploration project of our time, New Horizons’ mission to Pluto, as shared with David Grinspoon by mission leader Alan Stern and other key players. On July 14, 2015, something amazing happened. More than 3 billion miles from Earth, a small NASA spacecraft called New Horizons screamed past Pluto at more than 32,000 miles per hour, focusing its instruments on the long mysterious icy worlds of the Pluto system, and then, just as quickly, continued on its journey out into the beyond. Nothing like this has occurred in a generation—a raw exploration of new worlds unparalleled since NASA’s Voyager missions to Uranus and Neptune—and nothing quite like it is planned to happen ever again. The photos that New Horizons sent back to Earth graced the front pages of newspapers on all 7 continents, and NASA’s website for the mission received more than 2 billion hits in the days surrounding the flyby. At a time when so many think that our most historic achievements are in the past, the most distant planetary exploration ever attempted not only succeeded in 2015 but made history and captured the world’s imagination. How did this happen? Chasing New Horizons is the story of the men and women behind this amazing mission: of their decades-long commitment and persistence; of the political fights within and outside of NASA; of the sheer human ingenuity it took to design, build, and fly the mission; and of the plans for New Horizons’ next encounter, 1 billion miles past Pluto in 2019. Told from the insider’s perspective of mission leader Dr. Alan Stern and others on New Horizons, and including two stunning 16-page full-color inserts of images, Chasing New Horizons is a riveting account of scientific discovery, and of how much we humans can achieve when people focused on a dream work together toward their incredible goal.

Out of the Darkness

Out of the Darkness
Author: Clyde W. Tombaugh
Publisher: Stackpole Books
Total Pages: 222
Release: 2017-09-15
Genre: Science
ISBN: 0811766640

An adventure in scientific discovery Pluto, the farthermost planet in the solar system, some 3,673 million mites from the Sun, was discovered by Clyde Tombaugh at the Lowell Observatory in 1930. The fiftieth anniversary of Pluto's discovery will be celebrated in 1980 and OUT OF THE DARKNESS: THE PLANET PLUTO tells the exciting scientific story of the twenty-five year search for a planet X beyond Neptune, and its discovery-the only planet found in the twentieth century. The planets Mercury, Venus. Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn were all known since antiquity. Then Sir William Herschel discovered Uranus in 1781, and 65 years later, in 1846, Johann Calle and Urbain le Verner discovered Neptune. Variations in orbital perturbations of the planets and theoretical astronomy were responsible for predicting and discovering the three outermost planets (Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto) and so Pluto's story is also, to some extent, the story of its planetary neighbors. What kind of world is Pluto? Much is still a mystery (its exact size, for instance), but there are some facts. It takes 247.7 years for Pluto to revolve around the sun. From Pluto's surface, the Sun appears as a star-like point; giving only on-one-hundredth the light Earth receives, although it is still brighter than a full Moon. There is strong evidence to suggest that Pluto is an escaped satellite of Neptune, a sister moon of Triton that wandered off to become the farthermost planet revolving around the Sun. And the recent discovery of Pluto’s moon, Charon, and the speculation on a tenth planet beyond Pluto add to the mystery that still prevails 50 years after coauthor Clyde Tombaugh exclaimed “That’s it!” when he saw the change of position of a faint object on the photographic plates after examining millions of star images. That evening, the only man alive to discover a planet, went to the movies and saw Gary Cooper in The Virginian. The night sky was cloudy when he came out of the theatre, but his mind’s eye still saw the faint image of Pluto.

Vision and Voyages for Planetary Science in the Decade 2013-2022

Vision and Voyages for Planetary Science in the Decade 2013-2022
Author: National Research Council
Publisher: National Academies Press
Total Pages: 399
Release: 2012-01-30
Genre: Science
ISBN: 0309224640

In recent years, planetary science has seen a tremendous growth in new knowledge. Deposits of water ice exist at the Moon's poles. Discoveries on the surface of Mars point to an early warm wet climate, and perhaps conditions under which life could have emerged. Liquid methane rain falls on Saturn's moon Titan, creating rivers, lakes, and geologic landscapes with uncanny resemblances to Earth's. Vision and Voyages for Planetary Science in the Decade 2013-2022 surveys the current state of knowledge of the solar system and recommends a suite of planetary science flagship missions for the decade 2013-2022 that could provide a steady stream of important new discoveries about the solar system. Research priorities defined in the report were selected through a rigorous review that included input from five expert panels. NASA's highest priority large mission should be the Mars Astrobiology Explorer Cacher (MAX-C), a mission to Mars that could help determine whether the planet ever supported life and could also help answer questions about its geologic and climatic history. Other projects should include a mission to Jupiter's icy moon Europa and its subsurface ocean, and the Uranus Orbiter and Probe mission to investigate that planet's interior structure, atmosphere, and composition. For medium-size missions, Vision and Voyages for Planetary Science in the Decade 2013-2022 recommends that NASA select two new missions to be included in its New Frontiers program, which explores the solar system with frequent, mid-size spacecraft missions. If NASA cannot stay within budget for any of these proposed flagship projects, it should focus on smaller, less expensive missions first. Vision and Voyages for Planetary Science in the Decade 2013-2022 suggests that the National Science Foundation expand its funding for existing laboratories and establish new facilities as needed. It also recommends that the program enlist the participation of international partners. This report is a vital resource for government agencies supporting space science, the planetary science community, and the public.

The Sun, the Earth, and Near-earth Space

The Sun, the Earth, and Near-earth Space
Author: John A. Eddy
Publisher: Government Printing Office
Total Pages: 316
Release: 2009
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 9780160838088

" ... Concise explanations and descriptions - easily read and readily understood - of what we know of the chain of events and processes that connect the Sun to the Earth, with special emphasis on space weather and Sun-Climate."--Dear Reader.

Pluto and Charon

Pluto and Charon
Author: Alan Stern
Publisher: Wiley-VCH
Total Pages: 250
Release: 1998
Genre: Science
ISBN:

Rave reviews for Pluto and Charon: Ice Worlds on the Ragged Edge of the Solar System The story of the quest to understand Pluto and the resulting transformation of our concept of the diminutive planet from that of solar-system misfit to king of the Kuiper Belt is told in this book by Alan Stern and Jacqueline Mitton. Stern, a Plutophile to the core, is one of the most energetic, talented, and savvy planetary astronomers in the business today. Mitton, trained as an astronomer, is an experienced writer and editor of scientific books for nonscientists. Together they have created an immensely informative book . . . Written in an engaging and informal style, Pluto and Charon takes the reader step by step from the discovery of the ninth planet in 1930 to the current understanding of Pluto and its moon, Charon.-Sky & Telescope More than a book summarizing what we know about [the] planet, [Pluto and Charon is] about how far and how fast astronomical technology has come since 1965 . . . Stern and Mitton use the narrative of Pluto research to explain in comfortable, everyday language how such work is done . . . One of the nice touches in the book is that Stern and Mitton tell us something about each astronomer.-Astronomy Pluto and Charon presents the exploration of the ninth planet-written as a vivid historical account-for anyone with an interest in science and astronomy . . . the authors describe in simple language the methods researchers use to explore the universe and the way ever-improving instrumentation helps their knowledge advance.-Physics Today

Planets Beyond

Planets Beyond
Author: Mark Littmann
Publisher: Courier Corporation
Total Pages: 346
Release: 2004-01-01
Genre: Science
ISBN: 9780486436029

This book serves as a fascinating progress report on the outer solar system, offering a way to better appreciate the newest findings. It unlocks some of the mysteries surrounding Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto — from the drama of their discoveries to the startling results of Voyager 2’s historic 1989 encounter with Neptune.

The Pluto System After New Horizons

The Pluto System After New Horizons
Author: S. Alan Stern
Publisher: University of Arizona Press
Total Pages: 684
Release: 2021-08-10
Genre: Science
ISBN: 0816540942

Once perceived as distant, cold, dark, and seemingly unknowable, Pluto had long been marked as the farthest and most unreachable frontier for solar system exploration. The Pluto System After New Horizons is the benchmark research compendium for synthesizing our understanding of the Pluto system. This volume reviews the work of researchers who have spent the last five years assimilating the data returned from New Horizons and the first full scientific synthesis of this fascinating system.