Polite Demotion Planned for Planet Pluto Posted on August 11, 2006 @ 07:23:21 EDT Author Robert Roy Britt
http://www.livescience.com/blogs/author/robbritt In June, we broke the news that astronomers might get the chance to vote in September on a new definition for the word “planet,” a wording that will be proposed by a panel that includes historians, educators and other non-astronomers. Yesterday, NPR’s David Kestenbaum did some nifty digging into what that definition might be. Several of the panel members favor dividing round objects up as terrestrial planets (Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars), giant planets (Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune) and a third class that would include Pluto, NPR reported. “We’ll call them dwarf planets or something,” said Iwan Williams, an astronomer at the University of London who served on the panel, according to NPR. That’s the perfect solution, and one I suggested back in April. While the NPR story does not reveal exactly what will happen, look for the presentation of the new definition to be somewhat sugarcoated, so that it sounds like Pluto is still a planet. In reality, as I explained in April, this will be a rightful demotion for the tiny, way-out and whacky world. Pluto will be lumped with the handful of other diminutive round objects on offbeat orbits out beyond Neptune. If all goes as it should—meaning if astronomers can put aside their quibbles and vote “yes”—in 20 years Pluto will probably still be popular with children, but rather than being known as the 9th planet, it’ll be known as the first object ever discovered in that sea of dozens or maybe even hundreds of dwarf planets that will have been found by then. Reply with a "Thank you" if you liked this post. _____________________________ MEDIANEWS mailing list [email protected] To unsubscribe send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
