How I Killed Pluto and Why It Had It Coming - Book Post 1

Far too often, we look past our horizons in anticipation while assuming everything is accounted for. We actually have limited real knowledge of our solar system, as Professor Brown’s discovery shows. In the Prologue and Chapter One of Professor Brown’s book, How I Killed Pluto and Why It Had It Coming, Mr. Brown emphasizes that the role of astronomers is to be inquisitive.  

Was Galileo concerned with being “scoffed” at? His concerns were much bigger—in fact, they were as big as the Catholic church. Mr. Brown is not dealing with the church; however, he is dealing with a community of regressive scientists. Mr. Brown had a “hunch”, an itch if I may. Even he knew that for his hunch to be taken seriously he would need evidence.  

Sometimes a hunch is worth exploring. But, naturally not all hunches are equal. The hunch of a Ph.D. student from Berkeley demands more credibility than those of others. Yet why do we suppress our hunches even in their formative stages? Furthermore, what compels one to act upon a hunch? When the result is the potential discovery of a new “planet”, it seems as though benefits outweigh the costs.

Xena was her name. The celestial body that attracted Professor Brown and gave him the confidence to bring forth his findings against all doubts. Xena would later become known as the dwarf planet Eris.

Through the Prologue and Chapter One of Professor Brown’s book, we are reminded that humans are not all knowing. That we, ourselves, have once been young in our own lives and ignorant of our surroundings. The reader is reminded that the modern human experience has been relatively brief in the context of time, and therefore we cannot possess all of the evidence needed to reach conclusions light years away.