If you are over 15 years old, you probably learned in school that the solar system includes 9 planets. This was not always the case. In ancient times there were only seven. Seven is a good number. It is a significant number since there are seven days in a week. The Earth was the center of the world and did not count while the Sun and the Moon did. During and after the Copernican revolution, the number changed quite frequently. Earth became a planet, but the sun and moon were removed from the list. Then came William Herschel and discovered Uranus, then came Adams, Leverrier and Galle predicting and finding Neptune. Meanwhile, larger objects were found in what is now called “The Asteroid Belt” (Ceres, Pallas, Juno, Vesta) and for some time they were also counted as planets and finally Clyde Tombaugh found Pluto in 1930 doing a number. nice (but pointless). of 9 Planets. Then comes Mike Brown and in his quest to find the tenth planet, he actually killed the ninth.
Mike Brown’s story is detailed in his book “How I killed Pluto and why he deserved it“. Well, Pluto is not to blame for anything. It’s just there, but Mike managed to write a story that’s a great mix of: history, biography, science, philosophy, and even a thriller. A thriller, you might ask? Yeah, chapter nine is written like a thriller and describes how private observational data was exposed on the internet and could have been used by other researchers to get first credit for Mike’s discovery (can’t resist comparing this case to James Watson and Francis Crick, who used Rosalind Franklin’s data without her knowledge to get the breakthrough they needed in their DNA research.) In this chapter you will also read Mike’s philosophical thoughts on science, why and when some observations should be kept secret and why not others.
The story reaches its climax when the International Astronomical Union (IAU), in 2006, decided what a planet is (and thus deciding whether Mike discovered new planets or, on the contrary, reduced the number of planets by eliminating Pluto), and although Mike had much More than gain as a discoverer of planets, he felt strongly that Pluto should not be a planet. If he needs someone to blame for Pluto’s fate, Mike is a good choice, and he gets a number of complaints on this topic on occasion. However, even though Pluto is not a planet, it is still important, like all other distant objects out there, as its existence requires new theories about the creation of the solar system itself and Mike engages with this theme throughout the book. .
As you read, you’ll enjoy the story as it spans from Mike’s early childhood to that of his daughter, Lilah. You don’t have to be an astronomer to enjoy the book (although it helps). However, as an amateur astronomer I liked the fact that Mike is also an observer. Mike is not just a researcher, he looks through telescopes (and the biggest ones, Keck and Hubble) and thousands of images of the sky to find new planets (sorry, not planets but “dwarf planets”!). Throughout the book Mike shows us what he is to observe, he describes how much he likes to observe the moon and the planets. The book ends with Mike describing the conjunction of Venus Jupiter and the moon. It happens from time to time and I remember organizing a star party to share this experience with people in my community. Also, Mike gives a good explanation on how to name the new objects he finds, and while the meaning of Haumea, Makemake, Eris, and Sedna is known and written in many places, the reasoning behind giving these names is detailed in the book. .
