The Pluto FIles - DVD and Book


Item Number: 362

Time Left: CLOSED

Value: $41

Online Close: Mar 6, 2011 10:00 PM EST

Bid History: 1 bid - Item Sold!

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Description

One DVD: 


The Pluto Files, On The Road With Neil deGrasse Tyson. 


Approximately 60 minutes. 


Since its discovery in 1930, Pluto has held a warm place in the public imagination. So, when the American Museum of Natural History's Hayden Planetarium stopped calling Pluto a planet, director Neil deGrasse Tyson found himself at the center of a firestorm a firestorm led by angry, Pluto-loving elementary school students. But what is it about this cold, distant rock that captures so many hearts? NOVA joins Tyson as he follows the amazing story of its discovery and the captivating science that surrounds this former planet, including the possibility of finding more Pluto-like planets in the mysterious Kuiper belt, an area of icy rocks at the edge of the solar system. From the scientists trying to classify Pluto to die-hard Pluto-philes, Tyson meets a fascinating cast of characters with just one thing in common: Strong opinions about Pluto. Based on Tyson's book of the same name, The Pluto Files is an exciting and entertaining look at the solar system's best-loved non-planet.


The book :


The Pluto Files: The Rise and Fall of America's Favorite Planet


 


paperback, 194 pages


From Pluto's 1930 discovery to the emotional reaction worldwide to its demotion from planetary status, astrophysicist, science popularizer and Hayden Planetarium director deGrasse Tyson (Death by Black Hole) offers a lighthearted look at the planet. Astronomical calculations predicted the presence of a mysterious and distant Planet X decades before Clyde Tombaugh spotted it in 1930. DeGrasse Tyson speculates on why straw polls show Pluto to be the favorite planet of American elementary school students (for one, Pluto sounds the most like a punch line to a hilarious joke). But Pluto's rock and ice composition, backward rotation and problematic orbit raised suspicions. As the question of Pluto's nature was being debated by scientists, the newly constructed Rose Center for Earth and Space at the Hayden Planetarium quietly but definitively relegated Pluto to the icy realm of Kuiper Belt Objects (cold, distant leftovers from the solar system's formation), raising a firestorm. Astronomers discussed and argued and finally created an official definition of what makes a planet. This account, if a bit Tyson-centric, presents the medicine of hard science with a sugarcoating of lightness and humor.  

Reviews


An eclectic delight. Readers will laugh at the collection of song lyrics and cartoons inspired by the great Pluto-versy. . . . Smile at the photocopied letters from elementary-school children. (Fred Burtz - Seattle Times )

Expertly relates the history and science of Pluto. (Jeffrey Beall - Library Journal )

Donated by

PBS