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Best Of Blue Dot: What Is A Planet?

NASA

In this episode, inspired by our good friend Alan Stern, the Principal Investigator for the New Horizons Spacecraft, we examine a question that has vexed astronomers, planetary scientists and 5th graders, for decades: "What exactly is a Planet?" And more importantly, why should we care about definitions like this in science.

Dave is joined by a team of planetary scientists who study, guess what, planets, as their primary mission in life. Jim Bell, Kirby Runyon, David Grinspoon, and Phil Metzger join Dave to talk about how we've looked at this topic in the past, present and moving forward into the future as we discover more and more bodies in and out of our solar system that, if seen on the viewscreen of the Starship Enterprise would certainly look like planets. 

While there is a debate between factions who are astronomers and those who are planetary scientists, no matter where you fall, you'll find this episode, in the parlance of Mr. Spock, "Fascinating."

Dave Schlom is the longtime host and creator of Blue Dot. From surfing to Voyager in interstellar space, rock guitar to orcas in our imperiled oceans, the topics on Blue Dot are as varied as the host’s interests and connections -- which are pretty limitless! An internationally respected space history journalist, Dave is also deeply fascinated by all aspects of the grand workings of nature’s awesome machinery on scales ranging from galactic to subatomic. And topics take in all aspects of the arts and sciences.
Matt Fidler is a producer and sound designer with over 15 years’ experience producing nationally distributed public radio programs. He has worked for shows such as Freakonomics Radio, Selected Shorts, Studio 360, The New Yorker Radio Hour and The Takeaway. In 2017, Matt launched the language podcast Very Bad Words, hitting the #28 spot in the iTunes podcast charts.