BYU Celebrates International Year Of Astronomy With Public Lecture Series

The College of Physical and Mathematical Sciences (CPMS) is pleased to announce that the Department of Physics and Astronomy will present a public lecture series to celebrate the International Year of Astronomy.

The third lecture, presented by Dr. Denise Stephens, an assistant professor of astronomy at BYU, will be held on August 4th at 7:30 p.m. in the Harold B. Lee Library auditorium. Stephens’ lecture “Is Pluto A Planet?” will be immediately followed by a question and answer session that will last until 9:00 p.m.

The lecture marks the three-year anniversary of the International Astronomical Union’s decision to remove Pluto’s planetary classification. Stephens’ said she hopes to provide more information on the IAU decision and the former planet itself.

“In this talk, I’ll cover the events and the discoveries that forced the IAU to make a decision on what constitutes a planet,” she said. “I’ll go into the history of what happened at the IAU meeting and the many resolutions that were introduced to try and save Pluto. We’ll talk about the vote that declassified Pluto, and I’ll discuss the reaction of both the public and astronomers to the decision.”

However, Stephens said the lecture won’t just focus on astronomical politics, but also the science surrounding Pluto.

“Finally, we’ll talk about whether or not it really matters what you call Pluto. Regardless of whether you believe Pluto is a planet or not, this talk will give you the history and information you need to understand why astronomers did what they did in 2006 and the impact of that decision,” she said.

The telescopes on top of the Eyring Science Center will also be open for viewing, weather and twilight permitting. The public is welcome to attend immediately after the lecture until 10:00 p.m.

Subsequent lectures in the series will be held on the first Tuesday of each month. The next lecture will occur on September 1st and will feature BYU astronomy professor David Neilsen.

The auditorium is located on the first floor of the library in 1060 HBLL. The room is on the west side of the library, just to the left of the main stairs.

Learn more about the Department of Physics and Astronomy’s celebration of the International Year of Astronomy

--by Steve Pierce, College of Physical and Mathematical Sciences