Ciencias de la vida y de la materia Herederos de Galileo

Mike Brown 19/10/2009

Descripción
California Institute of Technology, EE.UU. Madrid, 19 de octubre de 2009 Pluto, called a planet for seventy-five years, is now dead, banished to the lowly status of "dwarf planet." And that's good. While astronomers argued about Pluto for most of the past decade, the final death blow came with the discovery of Eris -- an even larger body in the outer solar system. I'll discuss the story of the search for and the discovery of Eris and try to give a perspective on why the question of planethood for Pluto and for Eris matters and why, in the end, astronomers made the right decision to demote Pluto.
"La Fundación Ramón Areces no se hace responsable de las opiniones, comentarios o manifestaciones realizados por las personas que participan en sus actividades."

Descripción

California Institute of Technology, EE.UU. Madrid, 19 de octubre de 2009 Pluto, called a planet for seventy-five years, is now dead, banished to the lowly status of "dwarf planet." And that's good. While astronomers argued about Pluto for most of the past decade, the final death blow came with the discovery of Eris -- an even larger body in the outer solar system. I'll discuss the story of the search for and the discovery of Eris and try to give a perspective on why the question of planethood for Pluto and for Eris matters and why, in the end, astronomers made the right decision to demote Pluto.

"La Fundación Ramón Areces no se hace responsable de las opiniones, comentarios o manifestaciones realizados por las personas que participan en sus actividades."