Pluto, mighty Pluto, had its status as a planet ripped away at the conference of the International Astronomical Union in Prague today. Of the nearly 2500 astronomers from all over the world in attendance, a mere 300 bothered to show up for the vote to demote Pluto and were successful. (Sounds like some sort of conspiracy to me!)
Pluto has been a planet since 1930 and has been swarmed in controversey ever since.
According to the new planetary guidelines, all planets must orbit the sun. Their orbit must also be round in shape and must "clear the neighborhood around its orbit." Pluto, unfortunately, has an oblong orbit that dips into Neptune's. This automatically disqualifies it from planet status.
The new planetary lineup is as follows:
Mercury
Venus
Earth
Mars
Jupiter
Saturn
Uranus
Neptune
As if awarding some sort of consolation prize, the IAU designated the once strong Pluto as a "dwarf planet." As if that's going to make it all better! Two others will be joining Pluto as dwarf planets:
- The asteroid Ceres(if it's an asteroid, how can it be a planet?) which was considered a planet in the 1800's, but, like Pluto, had that title ripped away and was thrown into disgrace
- An icy "object" called 2003 UB313, nicknamed "Xena" which is slightly larger than Pluto
Charon, Pluto's largest moon, was robbed of any title at all.
There is also another class of objects..."small solar system bodies," which will refer to many comets, asteroids and such. (Is there really a need for this designation? I mean seriously?)
Let's all have a moment of silence for our friend, Pluto.
8 comments:
Silly. Everyone knows that Pluto
is Mickey Mouse's dog.
LOL, Dad!
I didn't know before today that Pluto is smaller than our own moon.
Those Astrologers are troubled too. Apparently Scorpios born between Oct 23 and Nov 21 (Laura Bush and Hillary Clinton)should be cautious because their sign is closely associated with the ex planet Pluto.
I'm worried about all the dad's that had painted the solar system planets on their kid's bedroom walls - and must now paint over Pluto!. What about the kids?? What do we tell them?? Damn it all, damn it all.
School districts are really pissed off too...all textbooks are now outdated and incorrect! Even if they are brand new.
Jacob was confused and bewildered when I told him...it really is the children who will be effected the most!
Awe, it gets to be a dwarf planet, so it's still a planet in my book. Not that I ever really cared, anyway. Maybe we should go looking for a new solar system to live in!
Okay Dad, if Pluto is Mickey's dog, what the hell is Goofey?
Goofy's a mutant. Plain and simple. Pluto's an adorable dog.
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