Killing Pluto, Finding Planet Nine: Mike Brown’s Journey to Redefine the Solar System

Into the Impossible With Brian Keating

Brian Keating

Science, Physics, Natural Sciences

4.7 • 1.1K Ratings

🗓️ 20 April 2025

⏱️ 58 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

As a listener of Dr. Brian Keating, you get a special 20% off discount. 👉 Head over to The Economist's website at www.economist.com/Keating to get started. What really happened during the controversy over the discovery of Haumea? Why was Pluto actually demoted? And is there a hidden Planet Nine lurking in the outer solar system? I’m joined today by none other than the Pluto Killer himself, Mike Brown. Mike is an astronomer and professor of planetary astronomy at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech). His groundbreaking discoveries of dwarf planets like Eris, Haumea, and Makemake shook up the astronomy world and led to the controversial redefinition of what constitutes a planet. In this gripping episode of Into the Impossible, Mike opens up about the ethical challenges he faced in his career, including the Haumea data theft that caused a massive controversy, the truth behind the demotion of Pluto, and the ongoing search for Planet Nine. — Key Takeaways: 00:00 Intro 01:26 How Mike killed Pluto 03:50 Defining planets 08:48 Being an astronomer 13:31 Controversy over the discovery of Haumea 29:56 The search for Planet Nine 39:14 Balancing high and low-risk research 43:43 Did Neil deGrasse Tyson kill Pluto? 44:34 Planet Nine’s effects on the solar system’s evolution 46:47 The relevance of exoplanets 52:52 Outro — Additional resources: ➡️ Learn more about Mike Brown: 💻 Website: https://mikebrown.caltech.edu/ 📚 How I Killed Pluto and Why It Had It Coming: https://a.co/d/9jQp3nt ➡️ Follow me on your fav platforms: ✖️ Twitter: https://twitter.com/DrBrianKeating 🔔 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/DrBrianKeating?sub_confirmation=1 📝 Join my mailing list: https://briankeating.com/list ✍️ Check out my blog: https://briankeating.com/cosmic-musings/ 🎙️ Follow my podcast: https://briankeating.com/podcast — Into the Impossible with Brian Keating is a podcast dedicated to all those who want to explore the universe within and beyond the known. Make sure to follow/subscribe so you never miss an episode! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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