I had just finished speaking at the Cranbrook Museum of Science outside Detroit, presenting an hour-long talk about the newly defined dwarf planets, which covered the history of the IAU, the discovery of transneptunian objects (TNOs), the essentials of planetary nomenclature, and was full of PowerPoint graphics and erudite astronomy. The questions from the audience ranged from evolving planetary orbits to issues of surface geology. And then an eight-year-old boy, obviously surprised he'd been called on, turned slightly pink and burst out: “B-b-but… what happened to Pluto?”
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© 2007 American Association of Physics Teachers.
2007
American Association of Physics Teachers
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