LOCATION: Prescott Public Library, Founders’ Suite
SPEAKER: Dr. Gerard van Belle, Lowell Observatory
COMMENTS: The 2006 vote on the planetary status of Pluto has had a long-lasting reverberation throughout astronomy. With an outcome that remains controversial both in the public eye and within the professional community, the debate on what to call this world remains a lively one. Dr. Belle’s own accidental involvement in this question had its own amusing tall tale, which he recounted along the way to re-examining a question: What is a planet, and why do we care?
Apr 16, 2015