I’m feeling nostalgic about the solar system. Planets aren’t what they used to be — Pluto is no more.
Who says all scientists think alike and stifle dissent? This debate had all the drama and reversals of fortune of a WWE smackdown.
As I say in today’s column, as long as scientists were revising the solar system, why couldn’t they have renamed Uranus? I mean, how many more moon and probe jokes do we have to endure?
Meanwhile, Richard Crowson pondered in his editorial cartoon today (click on image to enlarge it) whether the demotion of Pluto, which was discovered by Kansan Clyde Tombaugh, was payback for our state science standards.
Posted by Randy Scholfield
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17 Comments
I don’t see what the big deal is. It isn’t like they are denying Pluto exists. They just needed a better definition since they are finding more and more planets in deep space. I would rather forget about one planet than try to learn a plethera of new ones yet to be discovered.
It saddens me that Pluto was removed from the list by International Astronomical Union (IAU). Hope people will sign the petition at http://pleasesavepluto.org/ to dissuade them.
Oh come on Randy….You had to know you’d get some anus jokes outa this bunch for this post!Keep up the good work.
Randy, I can’t BELIEVE they let you print that! LOL
MrC – it probably went over their heads.
Uranus over their heads?
Save Pluto from what?
It’s still going to be there, i just got reclassified. Maybe we should focus on learning why the IAU redefined a “planet” instead of trying to keep it for sheer nostalgia sake.
This is just another distraction from the failures of the federal government concerning illegal immigration and the growing bad reputation we’re getting in the middle east.
I think a lot of the “dark matter” that scientists have been talking lately can be found between the ears of the neoconservatives in the Republican Party. Too bad for the rest of us that it makes up 80% of all matter in the universe.
I am disappointed Pluto has been “demoted”. I will still consider it a planet.
But, a decision is a decision. This needs to be handled at the highest level.President bush needs to be informed about this and dispatched to share the news with the Plutonians!
Maybe Pluto is where Saddam sent his WMDs!
Oh yeah, Will..this is a conspiracy by a bunch of international astronomers to divert attention from a war and immigration?
Didn’t you forget to mention how it is also a plot to take peoples’ minds off the slaughter in Sudan or the failing economy of Mogadishu?
Paranoia reigns supreme..
LOL! Save Pluto’s plantary status because of a religion?
We can’t do away with Pluto, wasn’t that the star that shined over Bethlehem the night God’s bastered son was born?It’s amazing, that is one rape that has been excepted by the world?
My question is, if Pluto is no longer considered a planet — is it’s “moon,” or more properly, planetary satellite, “Charon,” still considered a moon/planetary satellite?
The general definition of a “moon” is that it revolves around a planet. And the term “Moon” is technically the name of our Earth’s planetary satellite but the term, moon, is informally extended to all planetary satellites.
Actually there are two general classifications of planets already in our solar system: terrestrial (the first four planets from the sun) and the giant gaseous planets (the outer four planets from the sun).
The various planets and “moons” in our solar system have different “personalities” in terms of structure, atmosphere or lack thereof, orbits, tilt, surface temperatures, internal heat source, etc. Europa, a large moon of Jupiter, is generally thought to be covered with ice/water and, therefor, possibly life?
In my opinion, Pluto should have continued to be called a planet rather than disturb this description in countless books, encyclopedias and children’s minds. New planet/asteroid discoveries such as Ceres and Xenia along with Pluto could have been lumped into the third sub-group classification of planets, called “dwarf planets.”
In any case, it might take awhile to deliver the announcement to Pluto because it’s orbit is about 3,574,000,000 miles from the postoffice in Washington D.C. And that’s when Pluto is closest to the Earth which is not often.
From Yahoo Finance:
Pluto’s big comeback
The demotion of Pluto has been a boon for businesses that trade on the former planet’s name. Pluto’s restaurant chain in California reported a 10 percent increase in sales since astronomers downgraded its namesake to a “dwarf planet” last week. Fans have snapped up”Save Pluto” T-shirts being sold on the Web. The Adler Planetarium & Astronomy Museum in Chicago said sales of solar system posters have doubled. “It’s bringing more recognition to the name,” said Gerry Bugas, owner of Pluto’s restaurants, “which can never hurt.” (Los Angeles Times, free registration required)
http://news.yahoo.com/s/eo/20060825/en_celeb_eo/19852
Pluto the dog is doing well