Or Not 12
August 25th, 2006
A week ago, I reported that we had 12 planets. Now we’re down to 8. Either the Death Star is hard at work out there, or astronomers keep changing their minds.
As cool as the former explanation would be, it’s the latter. Now, Pluto, Ceres, and Xena have been demoted from the “planet” category, and are now classed as “dwarf planets.”
As much as I would have preferred more planets, I can see the sense to this. The question is, is this really the last word? They seem to be saying so now, but then again, they seemed to be saying so last week, too.
I would have to agree with you. My whole life Pluto has been a planet, and always will be. The way I see it, like those unseen people who are in the ivory tower where I work, those you never see in the trenches, astronomers need to justify their existence, thus they come up with something new every-so-often, even if the logic is wrong. So, I refuse to admit Pluto is not a planet. And Dwarf Planet sounds like one of those cheesy British shows. (ever see Red Dwarf, was pretty good actually). This is my first comment to you, though I have been here many times (here being your little slice of the internet) and find your articles to be an eclectic, thought provoking, and entertaining fair.
I would think that anything with an independent orbit that does not get pulled into another object’s gravitational field would classify as a planet.