"NOVA: The Pluto Files"

The debate over whether Pluto is a planet or not is important to Annette Tombaugh. Her father, Clyde, a native of Streator, discovered it at the Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Ariz., in 1930 when he was just 24 years old.

Tombaugh and her family, including her 97-year-old mother and her brother, were interviewed by astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson for PBS' "NOVA: The Pluto Files," set to air Tuesday, March 2, at 8 p.m. on WTTW Channel 11 in Chicago.

In the documentary, Tyson travels across the country, exploring the history of Pluto and the heated debate around its cosmic status. Tyson stops along the way in Streator and speaks to townspeople about their opinions.

The debate began when the International Astronomical Union changed the definition of a planet and Pluto was demoted to dwarf planet status. Tyson is the director of the Hayden Planetarium in New York City and when a 2000 exhibit of the earth's solar system left Pluto out, public rebellion ensued.