The Fight for the Ninth Planet

majestic — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 14:46:55 +0000

If there’s still someone out there who thinks science and politics never mix, the story behind the Battle of Prague should change your mind.

Some have cast the debate that took place in the Czech capital during the summer of 2006 as a battle against American scientists who wanted to keep the only planet discovered by an American on an unreasonably high pedestal. On the other side of the argument, there are those who suspect that the rest of the world wanted to see Pluto demoted to punish America for its unpopular foreign policy.

But we’re not talking about that kind of politics. We’re not even talking about a battle between the fans and foes of Pluto per se. Instead of thinking in terms of Republicans versus Democrats, or Plutophiles versus Plutoclasts, you have to think in terms of planetary conservatives versus liberals — or, more accurately, dynamicists versus geophysicists. The skirmishes over the definition of planethood that took place in Prague weren’t so much about poor little Pluto, but about two different ways of seeing the solar system.

One way focuses on the dynamics of a planetary system: How are things moving around, and how do those things affect one another? If a celestial body doesn’t have much of a gravitational effect on other bodies, that object is hard to detect and hard to track. If lots of celestial bodies are in similar orbits, they all tend to blur together.

Pluto may be the solar system’s brightest object beyond Neptune, as seen from Earth. It may account for as much as 7 percent of the entire mass of the Kuiper Belt, a ring-shaped region that covers more real estate than the space inside Neptune’s orbit. But because there are lots of other objects in the Kuiper Belt, dynamicists see a crowded celestial neighborhood in which Pluto doesn’t stand out…

[continues in Wired Science]

Where Are You Hiding Planet X, Dr. Brown?

majestic — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 14:40:39 +0000

Discovery Science has a great interview with Pluto killer Mike Brown:

The scoop: Mike Brown is a professor of planetary astronomy at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) and an expert dwarf planet hunter, accredited with discovering over 100 minor bodies in the Kuiper belt. Dr. Brown is also very well known for his part in the re-classification of Pluto.

In this very special IM Interview, Dr. Brown takes some time out with space producer Ian O’Neill to discuss killing Pluto, hate mail and whether there’s a massive Planet X hiding near the Kuiper belt ready to strike Earth in 2012 (spoiler: Mike isn’t part of a global conspiracy to hide Nibiru). To keep up with his Kuiper belt adventures, follow Mike on Twitter: @plutokiller.

Mike Brown: Back from lunch. Ready for Planet X.

Ian O’Neill: Lol, sounds good!

Right, my first question has to be about Pluto. How much hate mail do you get since you killed the poor little dwarf planet?

Mike Brown: Well, if you filter out the hate mail from scientists associated with the New Horizons mission to Pluto, the total amount has dropped dramatically over the past few years. Most people are pretty much over it.

Ian O’Neill: Hehe, that’s good! I’ve been writing about the non-existence of an Earth-killing Planet X for the last 2 years, and I still get hate mail because I say the thing doesn’t exist!

Mike Brown: I sometimes get hate mail because people are convinced it does exists and I discovered it and therefore the destruction of the Earth is really all my fault. I only WISH I had that much power.

[continues at Discovery Science]

Disinformation » Pluto

The Fight for the Ninth Planet

Where Are You Hiding Planet X, Dr. Brown?