Thursday, December 17, 2009
This post is the first in series of posts on Pluto, formerly known as a planet. I offer some background to why I am interested in Pluto and provide a sketch of the form this series of posts will take. I do not offer any opinion about the status of Pluto, at least not here.
Posted by Darin Hayton on 12/17 at 10:15 PM
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Friday, December 18, 2009
This is the first review of the literature on Pluto. Here I look at David Weintraub’s Is Pluto a Planet? Weintraub supports Pluto’s planetary status and is, probably, still upset that the IAU’s definition of a planet excludes Pluto.
Posted by Darin Hayton on 12/18 at 01:25 AM
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Sunday, December 20, 2009
Govert Shilling’s The Hunt for Planet X is the second review in my survey of the literature on Pluto. Unlike Weintraub, Shilling does not think Pluto deserves the status of planet. It seems that for Shilling, the IAU’s decision in 2006 was long overdue.
Posted by Darin Hayton on 12/20 at 10:49 PM
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Thursday, January 07, 2010
In my growing survey of the literature on Pluto, here I review a recent book by two astronomer who claim to be on opposite sides of the debate. They try to conceal their positions until the final chapter, but the general tone of the book supports Pluto’s claim to planethood.
Posted by Darin Hayton on 01/07 at 10:55 AM
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Saturday, January 16, 2010
A review of Alan Boyle’s The Case for Pluto, which is readable and enjoyable. As he makes clear in the title, he favors a definition of a planet that would include Pluto, as well as an indeterminate number of yet-to-be-discovered objects orbiting our sun as well as other stars.
Posted by Darin Hayton on 01/16 at 10:50 PM
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Sunday, January 24, 2010
A quick review of Neil deGrasse Tyson’s The Pluto Files. Tyson’s book, which just appeared in paperback, is readable, witty, and engaging. It will not, however, convince very many people that Pluto should not be counted amongst the planets.
Posted by Darin Hayton on 01/24 at 02:09 PM
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Wednesday, March 03, 2010
Neil deGrasse Tyson takes his Pluto Files on the road and onto PBS. It is an entertaining show, but don’t expect Tyson to resolve the question of Pluto’s planetary status.
Posted by Darin Hayton on 03/03 at 10:30 PM
Saturday, March 13, 2010
The latest in my Pluto project posts. This post, on the anniversary of the announcement of the discovery of a trans-Neptunian object, looks as some of those earliest announcements to see how they portrayed the discovery and who got credit for making it.
Posted by Darin Hayton on 03/13 at 10:30 PM
Sunday, March 28, 2010
This week’s roundup of posts includes a few good articles too. There were a number of good Ada Lovelace posts around, but rather than link to them all, I chose a couple that I liked and pointed to the Ada Lovelace site, which collected most of them.
Posted by Darin Hayton on 03/28 at 12:00 PM
Sunday, June 27, 2010
Published before the recent brouhaha over Pluto’s planetary status, Hoyt’s book on Pluto concentrates on whether or not Lowell deserves credit for predicting Pluto’s discovery.
Posted by Darin Hayton on 06/27 at 01:54 PM