The Ninth Planet #374
June 17, 2016
This week on we're turning our attention to Pluto – what we used to think of as our ninth planet – and also to the mysterious new Planet 9 that might be orbiting on the outskirts of our solar system. We speak to Jeffery Moore, a research scientist at the NASA Ames Research Center, about what we've learned so far about Pluto from the New Horizons Mission. And we speak with Mike Brown, Professor of Planetary Astronomy at Caltech, about the search for Planet 9, and why we think there's another large planet out there revolving around our sun.
Guests:
- Jeffrey Moore
- Mike Brown
Guest Bios
Jeffrey Moore
Dr. Jeffrey Moore is a research scientist at the NASA Ames Research Center and the Geology and Geophysics Imaging Team Leader for the New Horizons Mission. His research has focused on a range of topics relating to the geologic evolution of planetary landscapes and crustal materials. He has published a number of papers on the geomorphology, stratigraphy, and sedimentology of, as well as explored the roles of impact cratering, volcanology, and tectonism on terrestrial planets and outer planet satellites. He is the recipient of the Distinguished Scientist 2013 Ames Honor Award.
Mike Brown
Dr. Mike Brown is the Richard and Barbara Rosenberg Professor of Planetary Astronomy at the California Institute of Technology and has been on the faculty there since 1996. He specializes in the discovery and study of bodies at the edge of the solar system. Among his numerous scientific accomplishments, he is best known for his discovery of Eris, the most massive object found in the solar system in 150 years, and the object which led to the debate and eventual demotion of Pluto from a real planet to a dwarf planet. He is a recipient of the Richard P. Feynman Award for Outstanding Teaching at Caltech, and the author of "How I Killed Pluto and Why It Had It Coming", a best selling memoir of the discoveries leading to the demotion of Pluto.
