logo
episode-header-image
Nov 2020
10m 3s

When Pluto lost its planet status

Bbc World Service
About this episode

An international committee of astronomers agreed Pluto wasn't really a planet in 2006. They reclassified it as a 'dwarf planet' instead. The decision was made after Mike Brown of the California Institute of Technology identified a larger body, Eris, in the Kuiper Belt. He has been telling Bethan Head about his discovery and the public outcry that followed.

Photo: Dwarf planet Pluto Credit: DottedHippo /Getty Images

Up next
Yesterday
The man who said ‘no’ to Disney
In 1941, Walt Disney made a tempting offer to a fellow pioneer of the animation industry, Quirino Cristiani - the author of the first animated feature film.Cristiani was an Italian immigrant raised in Argentina who built a career creating animated political satires in the early d ... Show More
9m 55s
Jul 10
Ni Una Menos women’s movement in Argentina
On 3 June 2015, tens of thousands of people gathered in the capital, Buenos Aires, and in dozens of cities and towns demanding an end to violence against women. There were demonstrations in Chile and Uruguay in solidarity too. Argentina was reporting a female murder rate of one e ... Show More
9m 31s
Jul 9
Argentina’s national genetics bank created to identify stolen babies
In 1982, Argentine geneticist Victor Penchaszadeh was living in exile in New York when he received a call that would change the course of his career. Two founding members of the campaign group, the Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo, were asking for his help to find their kidnappe ... Show More
10m 41s
Recommended Episodes
Mar 2019
The Lost Daughters of Aten: Planet 9
Pluto may not be a planet, but it definitely exists. Not every case is so clear. The history of near-Earth astronomy contains many cases of bodies that may or may not have ever existed in the solar system we call home. In this episode of Stuff to Blow Your Mind, Robert Lamb and J ... Show More
44m 45s
Aug 2021
Les planètes gazeuses (Astrozoom #6)
Futura dans les Étoiles, c'est le rendez-vous incontournable des amateurs d'astronomie et d'espace. Pour ce nouvel épisode spécial, nous parlerons des planètes gazeuses du Système solaire. Bon voyage ! 👉 Abonnez-vous sur vos apps et plateformes audio préférées 🎙️ Pour aller plu ... Show More
7m 10s
Apr 2024
Pluton n’est pas une planète, vrai ou faux ?
Est-ce que c’est vrai que Pluton n’est pas une planète ? Le débat est régulièrement relancé, mais où en sommes-nous ? Pluton reste bel et bien une planète de notre Système solaire ou pas ? Vous le saurez dans ce nouvel épisode de Science ou Fiction. 🧏[Transcription de l'épisode] ... Show More
6m 19s
Apr 2024
Debating Pluto's Planethood with Alan Stern
Will Neil take back what he said about Pluto? Neil deGrasse Tyson and comedian Chuck Nice explore planets, dwarf planets, and the Kuiper belt with planetary scientist and principal investigator for the New Horizons Mission, Alan Stern. NOTE: StarTalk+ Patrons can listen to this e ... Show More
43m 23s
Jul 2023
Jupiter
Jupiter is the largest planet in our solar system, and it’s hard to imagine a world more alien and different from Earth. It’s known as a Gas Giant, and its diameter is eleven times the size of Earth’s: our planet would fit inside it one thousand three hundred times. But its mass ... Show More
53m 10s
Jan 2016
Saturn
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the planet Saturn with its rings of ice and rock and over 60 moons. In 1610, Galileo used an early telescope to observe Saturn, one of the brightest points in the night sky, but could not make sense of what he saw: perhaps two large moons on either ... Show More
46m 55s
Nov 2006
Lecture 37: Jupiter and Saturn
Jupiter and Saturn are the largest planets in the Solar System, and the prototype of the Jovian Gas Giant planets. This lecture focusses on the planets themselves, looking at their composition, atmospheres, and internal structures. We will leave discussion of their fascinating sy ... Show More
41m 46s
Aug 2021
Lucy in the Sky With Asteroids
How did the planets form? How did life happen? Where did Earth’s water come from? To answer questions like these, scientists used to go big—looking at planets, dwarf planets, and moons—but now small is the new big. Technology is zooming in on the pint-size stuff—asteroids, comets ... Show More
30m 51s
Oct 2023
504: 20 And Back - The Super Soldiers Defending the Kuiper Belt
On April 7, 2016, the team running NASA’s New Horizons mission were waiting nervously. The spacecraft was about to enter the outermost reaches of our solar system. They'd aimed toward Pluto. Which lives in a region of the solar system called the Kuiper Belt. Just before arriving ... Show More
34m 55s
Nov 2019
The search for our solar system's ninth planet | Mike Brown
Could the strange orbits of small, distant objects in our solar system lead us to a big discovery? Planetary astronomer Mike Brown proposes the existence of a new, giant planet lurking in the far reaches of our solar system -- and shows us how traces of its presence might already ... Show More
13m 14s