Backward notions of our place in the universe, illusory signs of extraterrestrial life, phantom planets--In this episode, I survey the development of our understanding of the solar system and beyond, learning how erroneous ideas, even those that were popular for a long time, are eventually overturned, revealed to be false by the light of science.

Pick up my principal source for this episode, Dispatches from Planet 3 by Marcia Bartusiak.

Check out my novel, Manuscript Found!

Further support the show by giving a one-time gift at paypal.me/NathanLeviLloyd or finding me on Venmo at @HistoricalBlindness, or by signing up for a 2-week trial of The Great Courses Plus or a 30-day trial of Audible.

Some music on this episode is copyright Alex Kish. Contact him at alexkishmusic.com to get music for your own projects. Additional music, including "Remedy for Melancholy," "Seeker," "Sentinel," "Tumult," "July," and "Harbor" are by Kai Engel, licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY 4.0).

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Hidden Bodies: A Brief and Incomplete History of Astronomical Discovery