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Pluto: Fighting for Life
Pluto -- You're Going Down!
Word from the International Astronomical Union today is that Pluto is about to get voted out of planet status. There was a committee that recommended earlier that Pluto be kept in the fold of planets, that any object large enough to make itself circular through gravity would be considered a planet. This would immediately bump the planet count up to 12, with maybe dozens more to come.
But those astronomers, they're a feisty bunch. The committee's recommendation looked good until all of those astronomers showed up in Prague. Once they got a few belts in them, soon the hard work of the dedicated and wise committee was thrown out the door.
So let's be clear: Pluto has to go. Clean out your locker, turn in your playbook and go see the coach. Oh, and on your way out, tell the other walk-ons and wannabes that the roster is frozen. We're sticking with the original eight.
Seems like they're mad because of all those new planets. The proposed new definition says that a planet is an orbiting body around a star that is large enough to clear it's own path. This is the position from the Orbital Dynamicists. When I was a kid? We didn't have no stinking Orbital Dynamicists, I can tell you that. Whoever these guys are, they obviously didn't do that well in school -- everbody knows that textbooks around the world say that there are NINE, count them, NINE planets. You want more, hey that makes sense. You want to demote Pluto, it sounds like a grudge match to me. Somebody didn't do too well in school, and now they are trying to change the rules.
We're paying millions to send a mission to a, gasp, Pluton?
One bunch says we should call everything outside of Neptune a "pluton" A pluton? Sounds like some kind of new car to me. Have you driven the new Ford Pluton?
Astronomers must be a freaky bunch. Many are saying that keeping Pluto a planet is merely for American pride: after all, we're the ones who found the little rascal. Some other astronomers say that the only reason we're keeping Pluto is because of the Disney character of the same name. Say it ain't so! Please, say it ain't so!
Hey Pluto, where's Goofy?
I'm voting for a mathematical definition of a planet, whatever that definition is. But I really hope it includes Pluto. After all, who cares how many planets we have, 5 or 50? Is there some magic number we're supposed to have? If so, why? They call the other eight planets the "classical" planets. I'm not sure why they are classical, after all, Neptune was discovered only 160 years ago on September 23, 1846. Do they play classical music? Are they classical guitarists?
Count my vote for keeping Pluto. I think as we explore we are going to find systems with dozens, nay hundreds of planets. That's okay. That's great. The point, I think, is to eventually include any body in the category of planet that might support life, and those bodies will probably all be rounded by gravity. Maybe not -- maybe _that_ definition is too restrictive. But it's a good start, right?
I will miss Pluto if the vote goes that way. School children might rejoice in the future...after all one less thing to remember and in a world where there are more new things to learn all the time that might be a boon.
What amazed me most about your post is that there are scientists who think Americans want to keep Pluto because we discovered it or because of the Disney character. Jeez! Why is the whole world inclined to believe we are conceited idiots? I like the idea of the rounding of the object to determine if it is a planet. No matter what the scientists decide today, Pluto will always be a planet to me.
love your article. please keep in touch. I am a pluto fan. we should contact disney together.
Pluto the dog (doll) as i type is right her with me. My love.
I am a lawyer too who believe lawfully pluto has merit /grounds to sue the scientist. in tort--reliance.
Damages should/may definately be proven.
Further, the astronomer who named the planet too has grounds. Alexander Bell's estate.
row.
keep in touch.
678 425-4709
church restoration
dr. chyrel N. hall, esq
dogs..pluto great human benefit and resourse. this a lone is planetary +
goooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooood job
PLUTO IS STILL A PLANET [deleted]