Museum of Science, Boston

Planetarium Show [Return to listing page]

Showing through Sunday, January 03

In August 2006, the International Astronomical Union wrote a definition for "planet": a sphere orbiting the Sun that has cleared its neighborhood of debris. Although Pluto is relatively round and orbits the Sun, it's also part of the Kuiper Belt, a band of frigid chunks where Pluto isn't even the biggest object on the block. By defining a planet for the first time, the union cut Pluto from the nine-planet solar system that had been a fundamental part of our science education for so long.

In this new Planetarium show, get a sense of what it's like to be an astronomer searching for undiscovered space objects. Gain an understanding of why Pluto is now considered a dwarf planet, and follow NASA's New Horizons spacecraft as it embarks on the long journey to study Pluto more closely than ever before.

Related Links:

Press release