The Universe is now a Smaller Place
I went to sleep last night with lots of different things on my mind. Is the latest mid-east peace going to hold? (no) Are the Sox ever going to win a game again (yes, they did last nite)? How the heck am I going to pack the rest of my stuff in three days? These are just a few of the things running through my brain when I turned off the lights and slipped off to dreamland. One thing that I thought I would never need to think about was that as sure as the sun rises and sets, there were going to be 9 planets in our solar system (barring a major stellar cataclysm, which would probably be really cool to see). Now I find out, there was no cataclysm (rats) but we only have 8 planets in the Solar System.
"After a tumultuous week of clashing over the essence of the cosmos, the International Astronomical Union stripped Pluto of the planetary status it has held since its discovery in 1930." How dare they?! One of the first mnemonic devices we all learned was to remember the names of all the planets. My Very Elderly Mother Just Saw Uncle Norman’s Pants, now if we drop the "P" at the end of the device we will never know what your elderly mother saw of Uncle Norman.
"The decision by the prestigious international group spells out the basic tests that celestial objects will have to meet before they can be considered for admission to the elite cosmic club." My question is that should not the members of this cosmic club decide the tests that are required for admission? The Astronomers club is now making the decisions for the planets. I am sure that they are going to bias the test against certain types of celestial bodies. How the heck do you give a potential planet a test anyway? Is it going to be true or false, multiple choice or essay format?
Well, I for one have decided to disregard this decision to demote Pluto. I will continue to call it the planet Pluto, not the dwarf planet Pluto, or even Mickey Mouse’s dog. I will continue to observe the 9 planets in our solar system, at least until Pluto crashes into Neptune, or Jupiter becomes a second sun ala 2010.
August 29th, 2006 at 8:29 am
Teachers at St. Helena actually encourage you to go around calling your mom “very elderly” and spreading rumor about her checking out your uncle’s pants. That’s outright slander!