Episode 3: The Lost World

Last Seen

WBUR

True Crime, Missing, Mystery, Boston, Society & Culture

4.7 • 3.6K Ratings

🗓️ 8 February 2022

⏱️ 39 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Every school kid learns that there are exactly eight planets in our solar system. But what if we told you there might be a ninth? A world that may be six times the size of Earth and take 12,000 years to orbit the Sun. The only thing is, while some scientists are convinced Planet Nine exists, no one has seen it. Yet.

Science journalist and WBUR producer Dean Russell (Endless Thread) traces the lives of two astronomers, separated by a century, bound by their thirst for finding that missing planet. This Last Seen story of obsession reveals the unexpected reward when one astronomer gets it wrong — and the fallout when another gets it, seemingly, right.

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Transcript

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0:59.1	Last scene is made at a public radio station. WBUR in Boston, which means it's made possible
1:05.6	by you, the listener. If you want the show to keep going, support it. Give in any
1:10.6	amount at WBUR.org slash pod power. That's WBUR.org slash pod power. Thank you. And here's
1:18.9	the show. WBUR podcasts, Boston.
1:29.7	Hey Dean, do you remember those mnemonic devices? I think we all were taught to remember the
1:35.1	names of planets as a kid. So mine was my very excellent mother just served us nine pizzas.
1:45.3	So can you give me the names of the planets then in that list?
1:49.7	All right. Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and pizzas.
2:00.7	Pizza's exactly. What ever happened to pizzas? I do mean Pluto.
2:08.9	Pizza's got demoted. We lost an entire planet, this little underdog named Pluto, all because
2:16.4	astronomers got together to decide what the word planet actually means.
2:24.2	I would like to open the second session and the closing ceremony of...
	...

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