Yongchun Zheng gave a lecture entitled "The Rise and Fall of Pluto" at Miyun Science and Technology Museum.

Boundless space and starry night sky always arouse people's infinite reverie: What are those distant stars? Can we reach those stars? Is there a planet as full of life as the earth? Since ancient times, the vast universe has been attracting people. Modern stargazing equipment and spacecraft make people gradually approach space, and new exploration results make people's understanding of the universe constantly updated.

Summer and autumn alternate 20 19. At the beginning of the new semester, Miyun Science and Technology Museum specially held a popular science lecture hall, "Where can humans go in the next century?" Yongchun Zheng, a researcher at the National Astronomical Observatory and a popular science writer, was invited to meet the readers of The Rise and Fall of Pluto and think with young readers: Where will mankind go in the next hundred years? And shared the new book "The Rise and Fall of Pluto". Yongchun Zheng was the first "Karl? Sagan Prize winners are affectionately known as "Uncle Mars".

During the activity, Yongchun Zheng started with his own experience, talking about the starry sky in his hometown, studying the soil of the earth to the soil of the moon, talking about how the vast universe made him feel the smallness of human beings, and talking about the "dim blue spot" of our life-the earth.

Yongchun Zheng told young readers that the earth is very small in the universe, and the probes launched by human beings today are mainly confined to the solar system. In 20 15, "new horizons" arrived in Pluto, and human beings really saw the true face of Pluto. Outside the solar system, there are countless galaxies, and these galaxies are only a tiny part of the universe. Most substances in the universe can't even be detected by humans. They are called dark matter and dark energy.

The vast universe is awesome, but human beings have never stopped exploring. Yongchun Zheng said that man landed on the moon and launched various detectors to detect planets, satellites and asteroids in the solar system. China's probe has landed on the moon, and the next step is to explore Mars. Mars may become the home of future human beings, but there are still many problems to be solved step by step to make this dream come true.

The future belongs to the next generation. If children can cherish the universe and dare to explore, there is hope that mankind will fly out of the earth and reach more distant places in the universe. In the near future, space travel will no longer be a dream, but a wish that everyone can realize. How to make the next generation more interested in science? On the one hand, Yongchun Zheng believes that to let children know that learning science requires not only learning knowledge, but also learning scientific methods and having the spirit of exploration. For example, there used to be nine planets in the solar system, but with the progress of human understanding, Pluto was redefined as a dwarf planet, so it is not enough to remember only the number of planets. It is more important to understand these planets. On the other hand, Yongchun Zheng suggested that scientists should also get close to the public and make everyone feel and fall in love with science easily through close communication.

In the two-hour lecture, Yongchun Zheng showed the wonders of space in a simple way with humorous language. Young readers have stepped onto the podium, incarnating small "stars" and small "planets", experiencing the laws of celestial bodies and exploring the mysteries of the bright starry sky.

The ups and downs of Bruto Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press

Published on August 20 19.

In the sharing session of the new book "The Ups and Downs of Pluto", the children at the scene also wrote down what they said to Pluto. Some expressed disappointment with Pluto, while others expressed hope to visit Pluto in the future. The ups and downs of Pluto describes the ups and downs of Pluto from its discovery to its loss of planetary identity, reflecting the impact of scientific progress on society. In the progress of science, what is more important than knowledge is the scientific spirit of human beings who dare to criticize, question and constantly explore, which is the driving force to promote scientific progress. Yongchun Zheng hopes to convey these ideas to the audience, especially children, through lectures and books.