Today In News That's Already A Week Old: Pluto! No Longer A Planet!
Yes, I took my time approaching this subject but it's not like anyone comes here to get breaking news. The electric car thing was, like, a decade old. I'm way impressed I got myself together within a week.
Ah, dear friends, our beloved outermost planet has been demoted. People seem to be upset by this, but I had a feeling it was coming. I've had mixed feelings about Pluto ever since I watched a NOVA episode (or some equally nerdy PBS programming) in which I learned of the theory that Pluto might be one of Neptune's moons gone astray. I was under the impression that astronomers haven't thought of Pluto as a planet for quite some time, but I guess there was a shock in making it official.
OK, so Pluto being kicked out of the club was probably an inevitability...but. Have you read the new definition of a planet?
Rule #1: A planet is round.
Rule #2: A planet orbits a star.
Rule #3: A planet has enough gravitational pull to clear out the area around its orbit.
Seriously? It took an international assembly of astronomers to come up with that? Any first grader who's looked up at the night sky could have come up with 1 and 2. I probably could have made up 3 if I really had to think about it. Sadly, in this day and age, even astronomers are subject to the terrible overpopulation side effect of useless committee meetings.
As for Pluto, well you got two out of three. Damn that Neptune and it's gravitational pull! But seriously. It's not like you're going anywhere. Dwarf planet or not, you'll always have a place in our solar system...just maybe not in our posters for science class. Check out that orbit!
Ah, dear friends, our beloved outermost planet has been demoted. People seem to be upset by this, but I had a feeling it was coming. I've had mixed feelings about Pluto ever since I watched a NOVA episode (or some equally nerdy PBS programming) in which I learned of the theory that Pluto might be one of Neptune's moons gone astray. I was under the impression that astronomers haven't thought of Pluto as a planet for quite some time, but I guess there was a shock in making it official.
OK, so Pluto being kicked out of the club was probably an inevitability...but. Have you read the new definition of a planet?
Rule #1: A planet is round.
Rule #2: A planet orbits a star.
Rule #3: A planet has enough gravitational pull to clear out the area around its orbit.
Seriously? It took an international assembly of astronomers to come up with that? Any first grader who's looked up at the night sky could have come up with 1 and 2. I probably could have made up 3 if I really had to think about it. Sadly, in this day and age, even astronomers are subject to the terrible overpopulation side effect of useless committee meetings.
As for Pluto, well you got two out of three. Damn that Neptune and it's gravitational pull! But seriously. It's not like you're going anywhere. Dwarf planet or not, you'll always have a place in our solar system...just maybe not in our posters for science class. Check out that orbit!