Is Pluto a Planet?

A Historical Journey through the Solar System

David A. Weintraub

254 pages, parution le 04/12/2006

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Résumé

With the discovery of 2003 UB313--an outer solar system object believed to be slightly larger than Pluto--astronomers have again been thrown into an age-old debate about what is and what is not a planet. One of many sizeable hunks of rock and ice in the Kuiper Belt, 2003 UB313 is more than twice as far from the Sun as Pluto. But Pluto itself has been subject to controversy since its discovery in 1930. Is it a planet? What exactly is a planet?

Is Pluto a Planet? tells the story of how the meaning of the word "planet" has changed from antiquity to the present day, as new objects in our solar system have been discovered. In lively, thoroughly accessible prose, David Weintraub provides the historical, philosophical, and astronomical background that allows us to decide for ourselves whether Pluto is indeed a planet.

The number of possible planets has ranged widely over the centuries, from five to seventeen. This book makes sense of it all--from the ancient Greeks' observation that some stars wander while others don't; to Copernicus, who made Earth a planet but rejected the Sun and the Moon; to the discoveries of comets, Uranus, Ceres, the asteroid belt, Neptune, Pluto, Centaurs, the Kuiper Belt and 2003 UB313, and extrasolar planets.

Weaving the history of our thinking about planets and cosmology into a single, remarkable story, Is Pluto a Planet? is for all those who seek a fuller understanding of the science surrounding both Pluto and the provocative recent discoveries in our outer solar system.

L'auteur - David A. Weintraub

David A. Weintraub is Professor of Astronomy at Vanderbilt University, which in 2003 honored him with the Jeffrey Nordhaus Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching.

Sommaire

Preface
What Is a Planet?
Seven Perfect Planets Made of Aether
The Earth Becomes a Planet
Sixteen Planets
Not Everything That Orbits the Sun Is a Planet
Uranus!
The Celestial Police
Neptune, the Thirteenth Planet
Easy Come, Easy Go
Pluto, the Fourth Ninth Planet
Hidden Secrets of the Outer Solar System
The Plutinos
Is Pluto a Planet?
Goldilocks
Postscript: Current Thoughts by Other Astronomers
Appendix: What We Know about Pluto
Notes
Index

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Caractéristiques techniques

	PAPIER
Éditeur(s)	Princeton University Press
Auteur(s)	David A. Weintraub
Parution	04/12/2006
Nb. de pages	254
Format	16 x 24
Couverture	Relié
Poids	602g
Intérieur	Noir et Blanc
EAN13	9780691123486
ISBN13	978-0-691-12348-6