Book post 2-1

I picked How I Killed Pluto by Mike Brown for my second book. I have decided to read this book after I read four of my classmates’ blog posts about the book, which all provided very concrete reasons for why they endorse the book. Interestingly enough, I am currently taking Life to the Universe, an introductory astronomy class offered by Dornsife, that teaches me how planets are defined, what constitutes a star, and the ins and outs of the debate around space objects versus planets. From my class, I learned that Pluto’s removal from the registry of planets is due to various objects being discovered around the Kuiper Belt and the redefinition of the planet. Therefore, with curiosity toward the story behind the person who leads to this ultimate removal of Pluto as a planet, I decided that How I killed Pluto will be the second book that I will be spending on my time on. 

How I killed Pluto is about an astronomist, Mike Brown, made his discovery of objects and yet eventually lead to Pluto's removal from the list of the nine planets. I am currently on page thirty-eight and at this point what I have learned in my astronomy class has been greatly helpful in reading the book. I enjoy the author's personal anecdotes with planets and stars, especially the one about his birth and the crossover of Jupiter and Saturn. This greatly resonates with me since I also develop an interest in astronomy back in middle school when I witnessed the Milky Way with my naked eyes. Other than his personal attachments to the distanced stars and moons, reading his experience with his search of the celestial objects has deepened my understanding of the day to day life of an astronomist. While learning how planets and objects are discovered, the discovering process all sounded too far away and unrelated to me that I have never imagined how much time and effort astronomists like Mike Brown have devoted to the search. His fear of not being able to keep his job as a professor because of not being able to make new discoveries also rings a bell in me that all scientists are human who has real-life concerns and pressures. While the great scientific discoveries matter, it is even more important to give those behind the scene the credit and support that they deserve.