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Guided Reading: The Pluto Files

Part of this book will be read in class, some in partners and some at home. Each time you are assigned a section to read you are responsible for answering these questions. Preface: 1. What was different about how the exhibits were organized at the Hayden Planetarium?

2. Who decided to organize the exhibits at the Hayden Planetarium this way? 3. What was the New York Times page one news story title?

4. What is the IAU? What do they do?

Chapter 1: Pluto in Culture 1. Discuss who, when, where and how Pluto was discovered.

2. Who was Percival Lowell?

3. What was wrong with the Adler Planetarium after Pluto was discovered?

4. Before a planet was named Pluto what did “Pluto” mean for most people? 5. What did Herschel name his “planet”? What was it really?

6. What is the traditional nomenclature for naming planets and their moons?

7. What is different about Uranus’ moons compared to other moons?

8. Venetia knew Pluto was a roman god by why else was the name Pluto fitting?

9. What is special about Pluto’s planetary symbol?

10. What element was named after Pluto? Why is this a very fitting element for the name Pluto?

11. What is a plutocracy?

12. What is a mnemonic? What is the most common one used for the order of the planets?

13. How many moons are bigger than Pluto? What are they?

14. What does the author think is wrong with only being taught the order of the planets?

Chapter 2: Pluto in History 1. What were astronomers looking for when looking for Pluto?

2. Which planets did the ancients know about?

3. What did everyone think the planet Uranus was originally? 4. Why did everyone think the plant Uranus was “acting funny”?

5. How was the planet Neptune found? 6. Why didn’t astronomers want to believe that there was an eighth planet? 7. Why did astronomers name the new planet “Planet X” before they found it? 8. What is a “blink comparator”?

9. What else did Tombaugh discover?

10. What did the geology newsletter say was going to happen to Pluto?

11. Do modern astronomers think there is still a Planet X? Why not?

12. What did Giuseppi Piazzi do? What about Wilhelm Olbers?

13. What did Herschel name Ceres and Pallas?

14. In 1851 how many planets were there in the Solar System? What were these newest planets really?

15. How big is the asteroid Ceres? 16. What does “Planets” mean in Greek? 17. Why weren’t the sun and moon considered planets anymore after the mid 1500’s?

Chapter 3: Pluto in Science 1. What is Pluto made of? What makes up mostly Pluto by mass? By volume?

2. How does Pluto compare in size to Mercury? 3. What is unique about Pluto’s orbit compare to other planets?

4. What is Charon? How did astronomers find it?

5. What is unique about Pluto and Charon together?

6. Neptune and Pluto cross orbits; will they ever hit each other? Why or why not?

7. Why is there extra mass around Pluto and in its orbital path but not near the orbits of the other planets?

8. What is so special about the shape of a sphere? Why do planets take the shape of spheres?

9. Why don’t asteroids or Mars’ moons make themselves spherical?

10. What is wrong with the plaques that were on the Pioneer 10 and Pioneer 11 space probes? (Figure 3.6)

11. If you weigh 20 lbs on Jupiter’s moons but only 10 lbs on Pluto what do you know about Jupiter’s moons?

12. How far away is Pluto? How cold is Pluto? How small is Pluto?

13. What is so special about the New Horizons probe? What is the probe looking for?

14. What did the Hubble Space Telescope help find in 2005?

15. What were Pluto II and Pluto III eventually named? Why are those names so appropriate? 16. Why do you think so much time and energy was spent on naming Pluto’s “moons”? 17. Looking at Figure 3.13, why couldn’t the moons, “candidate satellites,” be seen before 2005?

Chapter 4: Pluto’s Fall From Grace 1. What else is included in the study of the Solar System besides the planets and their sequence?

2. Why was Pluto separated from the others in astronomy textbooks?

3. What evidence was usually given to support Pluto as a planet? Does that evidence agree with calling Mercury or Venus a planet?

4. What is special about the asteroid Ida? Is it an uncommon trait?

5. What is Pluto more similar to than the other planets?

6. What are the Terrestrial planets?

7. What are the Jovian planets?

8. What do classification schemes require?

9. Why is it difficult to see things deep in space?

10. What is 1992 QB1?

11. What did Kuiper propose about Pluto?

12. Why does Tombaugh think Pluto should still be a planet? 13. Why is Venus considered a slow planet?

14. What was the author hired to do at the Hayden Planetarium?

15. Why is some exhibit information at the Hayden Planetarium on “easy to change” transparencies?

16. How is Pluto similar to the asteroid Ceres?

17. Who is the IAU? What do they say about Pluto? 18. What was Luu’s main question about science?

19. What would it mean if Kuiper Belt Objects were found that were larger than Pluto?

20. What was Stern’s physical test for determining if something is a planet?

21. What are the five major families of the Solar System?

22. Where did the Hayden Planetarium put Pluto?

23. When did the New York Times post its story? Where was it in the newspaper? What was the original article title?

24. Who did the museum double check with about demoting Pluto after the story broke? What did he say about the author?

25. How does Sykes feel about Pluto?

26. What does Pluto have in common with the other Kuiper Belt Objects?

27. What does the New York Times say after Quaoar is discovered? 28. What was the “Holy Grail” of the Kuiper Belt Object hunt?

29. What is Eris? What issue does Eris raise? 30. Why is Eris’ name so fitting?

Chapter 5: Pluto Divides a Nation 1. What is the primary interest of CCNet? 2. What was Levy’s astronomy-inspired insult?

3. What did Zahnle say? Was he serious?

4. What did Mendell say? 5. What was Kitchener’s historical analogy?

6. What did Phil Plait point out is the main question of this debate? 7. What does A’Hearn notice about the people who care the most about Pluto’s status?

8. What does trans- mean? What does ultra- mean?

9. Huntress explains that we have two belts of what in our Solar System?

10. What does he suggest calling Ceres and Pluto?

11. Who is Will Galmot? What was his opinion?

Chapter 6: Pluto’s Judgement Day 1. What did the IAU do to determine what a planet was? 2. What was the committee’s recommendation?

3. What else would become a planet immediately with this new definition? 4. How did the IAU edit the definition in Prague at the meeting? 5. How does Soter quantify if a planet has a “clean orbit”?

6. What was the result on August 24, 2006 for Pluto, Ceres and Eris? 7. What do the funny headlines tell us about culture? 8. What do the IAU votes usually do? 9. What did Sykes do after the IAU vote? 10. What is Sykes really calling for? Does the author agree?

Chapter 7: Pluto the Dwarf Planet 1. What is required for a joke to be funny?

2. What state tried to pass legislation keeping Pluto a planet but failed? Which state succeeded? 3. What did Cal Tech do after Pluto’s demotion?

4. What is a possible new mnemonic?

5. What does it mean to be plutoed? 6. How do you think the author feels about astrologers?

Chapter 8: Pluto in the Elementary School Classroom 1. What are the two new criteria for a planet? 2. After Copernicus discovered Earth wasn’t the center of the Universe what else did man discover?

3. How else could you classify the planets?

Plutologue: 1. What is a plutoid? 2. Why doesn’t Stern like classification?