Bookworms: The Pluto Files (2009) by Neil deGrasse Tyson

“Aren’t you a little short for a stormtrooper?” – Princess Leia

The Pluto Files

I’ve loved science fiction literature all my life. There exists a very good reason for this: most science fiction occurs in space. The U.S.S. Enterprise majestically warped through space, boldly going where no one had gone before. The Millennium Falcon dodged asteroids and TIE fighters in space. Ripley battled aliens to the death in space. I read many, many fantastical stories about robots, humanity, and aliens working, living, and fighting in space. This fascination for life lived among the stars was born out of a love of astronomy. From a very early age I can remember summer nights, lying on my back in the grass, staring up tracing the constellations and naming key stars. I was fascinated by the NASA Apollo missions which actually landed men on the moon, or left brave crews lost in space. I watched space shuttle launches on TV (and one in person); I followed the progress of the International Space Station as it was being built.

The planets, in particular, have always fascinated me. The Great Red Spot, a perpetual hurricane among the clouds of Jupiter, a storm so massive it could encompass three Earths. The rings of Saturn, majestic particles of space dust, rock, and ice that encircle a great orb in space. Mars, the red planet, our nearest planetary neighbor, and home to myths of little green men, malicious invaders, mysterious canals, and the promise of a second frontier for humanity to explore. Pluto, that last, far flung and tiny wandering brother, who, it turned out, had a co-orbiter, Charon. I learned a pneumonic I still remember that helped me learn the order of the planets, as they were flung out from the sun: My very eager mother just served up nine pizzas for Mercury Venus Earth Mars Jupiter Saturn Uranus Neptune Pluto.

Except that Pluto is no longer officially classified as a planet. I, like many fellow earth dwellers, was disheartened when news broke about our astronomical authorities deregulating Pluto’s status. I had even written a paper all about Pluto in my high school years, researching every last detail that I could find. (A paper that is now scientifically inaccurate.) But, I wasn’t aware of what actually happened, and what precipitated the decision. Pluto had been accepted as a planet for over 75 years. Why the sudden need for change, for reclassification? I never really knew until I investigated The Pluto Files: The Rise and Fall of America’s Favorite Planet by Neil deGrasse Tyson. Written a few years ago, I just discovered this book myself as I browsed the astronomy shelves at my library. Immediately curious, I read it cover to cover in about an hour.

Tyson is a famous scientific personality, an astrophysicist by day and a television host, columnist, and humorist by night. I even follow Tyson on Twitter (you should too; his tweets are as informative as they are hilarious). Tyson, it seems, was thrust into the center of the “Pluto: Planet or imPoster” debate as a result of his role in a museum renovation that grouped the heavenly bodies differently than any had done before, in the process moving Pluto from inclusion with the other eight planets into a group of other like heavenly bodies and nearby galactic neighbors. Never once did the museum actually say that Pluto was or was not a planet, but the regrouping caused a stir, and Tyson, as head of the committee that organized the museum, took a lot of heat for sidelining dear little Pluto.

But, why did anyone even really care? We used to think that Saturn was the only planet with rings until we discovered rings around Uranus and Neptune. We used to think Venus was a lush tropical paradise until we sent a probe that told us otherwise seconds before it was crushed, melted, and vaporized (pretty much all at the same time) [Author’s note: Venus is one badass planet.] The canals on Mars turned out to be manufacturing defects on a telescope lens. Nobody really threw down and fought any of this new information when it was brought to light. In fact, the last great astronomical furor was back in the Middle Ages when a guy named Galileo dared to surmise that the Earth revolved around the Sun, and not the other way round, and that was primarily a religious furor, not a scientific or cultural one. Pluto wasn’t the center of anybody’s universe in 2006. So why did everyone seem to care?

Neil deGrasse Tyson explores completely the controversy surrounding Pluto in great depth in The Pluto Files, and from many angles: sociologically, culturally, and scientifically. As a man thrust into the middle of the debate, Tyson is well suited to talk to all aspects of the astronomical decision that rocked the beginning of the 21st century. I found his record complete, entertaining, and very interesting. I think that he belabored a few points a little more than necessary, but enjoyed his narrative of the events in Pluto’s file, from discovery to declassification.

I’ll admit that I resisted the change, for a while I too echoed the cry: “Pluto is a planet!” but after reading Tyson’s book, I understand why it isn’t called that anymore. I still feel a twinge of nostalgic loss, but then I remember that I haven’t lost anything. Pluto is now a dwarf planet in the Kupier belt (always was, really) but it is still that quirky double dwarf planet that orbits way out near deep space that was discovered by an American and treasured by many astronomers. The Sol solar system may only have eight official planets, but the majesty and the wonder of our little galactic neighborhood is only enhanced by our greater understanding of all that surrounds us in the heavens. Increased knowledge and more precise classification helps humanity understand a little bit more about the universe and our place in it. And that is always a good thing.