"Is Pluto A Planet?" - An entertaining look at the planets

This is a highly visual and entertaining presentation for the Welwyn Festival from local space expert and author Jerry Stone, describes as "One of the leading speakers on space exploration".

It is a free event and there will be books on astronomy and space exploration available, which I will be happy to sign. Payment has to be by cash only.

Pluto was in the news 10 years ago when the New Horizons spacecraft - which has my name on it - finally reached Earth's distant cousin in the outer reaches of the Solar System, after a journey of 9-½ years.

But did it actually encounter a planet?

Just 7 months after New Horizons was launched back in January 2006, the International Astronomical Union voted to re-classify Pluto as a Dwarf Planet, resulting in uproar in the astronomical community and starting a controversy that still divides opinion among astronomers and with the general public alike.

But does it need to? Is there not a simple answer?

"Is Pluto A Planet?" looks in detail at the IAU definition of a planet and some of its unexpected - and unintended - consequences.
To give an example, I can show that Jupiter - the biggest object in the Solar System after the Sun - is actually a dwarf planet! I can also show that it isn't a planet at all ... So how many planets do we really have? Is it 8, 17 or maybe only 2?

This is my most controversial presentation, and includes some things that one astronomer has told me I shouldn't be saying!


Category: Attractions | Talks and Lectures