Free Webcast on Aug. 14, 2008: Great Planet Debate

Is Pluto a planet? What defines a planet? Are other planets yet to be discovered?

Join Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson, American Museum of Natural History, and Dr. Mark Sykes, Planetary Science Institute, as they square off in a debate of these questions during this free, one-hour webcast on Aug. 14, 2008, 4:30 p.m. EDT. The debate will be moderated by Ira Flatow, host of NPR’s “Science Friday,” and streamed live on the Web. Registration for the webcast is required by noon, Aug. 13, 2008.

This event is part of a larger conference — The Great Planet Debate: Science as Process — Aug. 14-16 at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory’s Kossiakoff Center in Laurel, Md. The conference includes two days of scientific sessions to discuss and debate planet formation and characteristics, as well as the various criteria that can be used to define and categorize planets. An educator’s workshop follows on the third day to discuss how teachers can use this debate to explain science as a process.

For more information and to register, go to http://gpd.jhuapl.edu .

For those attending in person, regular registration is available at the same site, under the “REGISTRATION” tab. The registration fee is waived for teachers and students.