The Pluto Files on PBS
Watch the premiere show of The Pluto Files tomorrow, March 2 on PBS.
Synopsis:
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 led by angry, Pluto-loving elementary school students who wrote letters like the one above. But what is it about this cold, distant, icy rock that captures so many hearts? Now, almost 10 years after the news broke on the front page of The New York Times, “Pluto Not a Planet? Only in New York,” and nearly four years after the IAU (International Astronomical Union) officially reclassified the ninth planet as a plutoid, NOVA travels cross-country with Tyson to find out. Based on Tyson’s book of the same name, “The Pluto Files” premieres Tuesday, March 2, 2010, at 8pm ET/PT on PBS.
Watch the video clip: Astrophysicist, host and author Neil deGrasse Tyson discusses what it is about cold, distant Pluto that captures so many hearts.
An IAU vote does not make anything “official” or fact or true in spite of what some in the media think. Even Tyson has admitted that the IAU planet definition is “flawed” and has distanced himself from it. He now says he never publicly stated that our solar system has only 8 planets, and in the broadcast, he recognized that there is no consensus among astronomers about Pluto’s status.