After finding solid evidence of non-planetary attributes, Pluto was downgraded from a planet.
(Flickr user pave-m (cc: by-sa))
The book that I wrote, The Pluto Files, was really a catharsis for me, because I was branded as public enemy for having revealed this information about Pluto. So in the Pluto Files...it's kids, third graders, sending me hate mail. A lot of it is entertaining, and it's all in fun, but it revealed something about the power of this particular cosmic object in the hearts and minds of Americans.
Eighty years ago an astronomer named Clyde Tombaugh, who worked at the Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona, made a discovery that would capture the imagination of space enthusiasts for generations. He found Pluto.
In honor of that discovery, we hear from Buzz Aldrin, retired astronaut and the second man to step on the moon, and astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson about our fascination with planets – "dwarf" or otherwise – and the future of space exploration.
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