How I Killed Pluto and Why by Mike Brown

The provided text is a collection of excerpts from a book by an astronomer, Mike Brown, primarily detailing his personal and professional journey leading to the discovery of several large objects in the Kuiper belt, which ultimately resulted in the reclassification of Pluto as a dwarf planet. The narrative covers Brown's early lack of interest in the night sky and his graduate studies on Jupiter, contrasted with his later, all-consuming mission to find Planet X and prove that the solar system contained more large objects beyond Neptune. Throughout the text, Brown recounts the intense technical challenges of surveying the sky using both older photographic plates and newer digital cameras, leading to the discoveries of objects such as Quaoar, Sedna, and the Pluto-killer Eris (originally Xena). Furthermore, the excerpts interweave the scientific discoveries with the personal milestones of meeting and marrying his wife, Diane, and the birth of their daughter,