David Weintraub has written a really delightful little book on the Pluto controversy.
The book is written as a historical overview, starting with pre-historic observations running through classical astronomy to modern times, discussing the classification schemes and discoveries in chronological order.
The level is that of an introductory astronomy class, this book would do wonders for a first year student taking an introductory (non-mathematical) astronomy class, covering topics a typical class might spend a few weeks on at the beginning of the class.
It should also make good reading for interested amateurs or general public, or teenage enthusiasts.
The book is well researched, detailed, and flows nicely. It was a fun, fast read.
Weintraub makes his case well, covers all the options and recent history of the struggle over planet classification and how it ties in with the latest discoveries inside and outside the solar system.
He also, I am glad to report, reaches a firm and fun conclusion which he justifies well - to see what it is, you should read the book!
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Link? Title? Publisher?
Since you ask, John Wilkins:
"Is Pluto a Planet?: A Historical Journey through the Solar System" by David A. Weintraub, Princeton, NJ : Princeton University Press, 2006, ISBN: 9780691123486
Publisher's Description:
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.
My Palm Pilot program: Planetarium shows me where to point the telescope. It's never wrong, though sometimes you have to ask it if the object is bright enough to be visible. It lists as planets the following objects: Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto.
That's right. Earth is not a planet.