Pluto's Secret: An Icy World's Tale of Discovery

People, children especially, have been baffled, bewildered, and even outraged by the fact that Pluto is no longer called a planet. Through whimsical artwork by Diane Kidd and an entertaining dialogue format by Margaret A. Weitekamp and David DeVorkin, two curators at the National Air and Space Museum, Pluto's Secret: An Icy World's Tale of Discovery explains the true story of this distant world. Providing a history of the small, icy world from its discovery and naming to its recent reclassification, this book presents a fascinating look at how scientists organize and classify our solar system as they gain new insights into how it works and what types of things exist within it. The book includes a glossary and bibliography.  Hardcover; 40 pages, full-color illustrations throughout. 9.1"l. x 6.6"w. x 1.1"h.

Museum Provenance

You don’t need to be an astronaut OR a rocket scientist to appreciate the Human Spaceflight exhibit at our National Air and Space Museum’s Udvar-Hazy Center. It’s all about the incredible reality of space travel—how small the Mercury capsule seems; how enormous the space shuttle is.

Every Smithsonian purchase will arrive with a museum provenance card explaining how it is adapted from or inspired by an object or objects in our collection.