New Horizons to the Pluto System
7 p.m. Monday, Dec. 15, Chautauqua Community House, 900 Baseline Road, Boulder, 303-442-3282
In 2006 when the International Astronomical Union created an official definition for planet, Pluto came up short. Pluto meets two of three conditions for an object to be considered a planet; First, it is an object in orbit around the Sun. Second, it has enough mass to be a sphere by its own gravitational force. The third stipulation for planet-dom, which Pluto does not meet, is that it must clear the neighborhood around its orbit, which it does not. Pluto was reclassified a “dwarf planet.”
But some never accepted Pluto’s demotion, such as Alan Stern, who is the principal investigator for the upcoming NASA mission called New Horizons, which is set to explore the Pluto system and launches in early 2015. Experts will be discussing why this mission is important at the Chautauqua Community House in Boulder during the Chautauqua Space Series. Tickets are $10.
