The ex-Planet Pluto: The Rise and Fall of America's Favorite Planet

What is so special about the planet, or should it be said, ex-planet Pluto that its demotion from major planetary to minor planet status should provoke tremendous public outcry?

Even though, the main thrust of this charge came mostly came from Pluto-loving elementary school students, one can not help but ask the question - What is it about this cold, icy and distant rock that captures so many hearts? Why is Pluto America's favorite Planet?

Since its discovery in 1930, Pluto has held a warm place in the public imagination. So, when the American Museum of Natural History’s Hayden Planetarium stopped calling Pluto a planet, director Neil deGrasse Tyson found himself at the center of a firestorm.

Today on Far Future Horizons we present - The Pluto Files, from the PBS series NOVA. This episode of NOVA is based on Neil deGrasse Tyson’s own wonderful book – “The Pluto Files: The Rise and Fall of America's Favorite Planet” available from AMAZON books in the United States and the United Kingdom.

This NOVA documentary is available from PBS home video.

NOVA joins Tyson as he follows the story of its discovery and the science that surrounds this former planet, including the possibility of finding more Pluto-like planets in the mysterious Kuiper belt — an area of icy rocks at the edge of the solar system.

NOVA: The Pluto Files

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