The Pluto Story

Guest Speaker

Thursday, 28th January 2027 (19:45 - 22:00)

Venue: Hybrid

This talk gives an overview of the Solar System, especially the data regarding Pluto, and how this ultimately led the IAU in 2006 to declassify Pluto from being a planet. Although 'what is a planet' might seem to be an easy question to answer, it turns out that the debate by professional astronomers was complicated and fractious. The twists and turns of those two weeks in 2006, culminating in the final vote at the IAU are revisited on a personal basis – astronomical democracy in action – or not?

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Speaker: Ian Robson

Professor Robson has been Head of Dept of Physics and Astronomy at UCLAN; Director of the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope in Hawaii; Director of the UK Astronomy Technology Centre at the Royal Observatory Edinburgh and Director of the Science and Technology Facility Council’s Technology Department. He has undertaken extensive research in the fields of Active Galaxies and submillimetre astronomy, publishing over 200 papers, and has written an undergraduate textbook on Active Galactic Nuclei. Professor Robson is very active in outreach and was the first President of the International Astronomical Union’s (IAU) Commission for Communicating Astronomy with the Public. He led the UK programme for the International Year of Astronomy in 2009. He was the International Astronomical Union Assistant General Secretary for 2018–19 and has been President of the Society for Popular Astronomy and the Royal Scottish Society for the Arts. He was Vice President of the Royal Astronomical Society from 2021-23 and received the prestigious Service Award in 2024.