Homely Scientist

 This item, believe it or not, was the lead story this morning on many news networks.  Yep, just last week I was talking about the solar system expanding to 12 planets, well now it’s down to 8.  Pluto, an odd-ball planet if there ever was one, has been declassified as a planet.  It’s now in a class called “Plutons” and is one of many objects in it’s general neighborhood.  Beyond the fact that Pluto isn’t as unique as it was once thought (something required, I guess for planetary status), it’s orbit overlaps Neptune and that was the last straw (Neptune to Sun: Mom!  Pluto won’t stay on his side of the ecliptic!).  Here’s a quote I pulled from CNN:

Instead, it will be reclassified in a new category of “dwarf planets,” similar to what long have been termed “minor planets.” The definition also lays out a third class of lesser objects that orbit the sun — “small solar system bodies,” a term that will apply to numerous asteroids, comets and other natural satellites. Source: CNN.com – Pluto gets the boot – Aug 24, 2006

I listened to Bob McDonald of CBC’s Quirks and Quarks explain that this isn’t the first time something like this has happened.  When the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter was first discovered, the largest objects were thought to be new planets, until they realized that there were a bunch of other objects out there.  Bob also said (which is a great quote) that the Universe hasn’t changed, only our understanding of it has.

Okay science teachers, you’re going to need to go back and give everyone a point on past tests who forgot Pluto on the list, since it wasn’t a planet afterall! .

tags: astronomy, Pluto, Solar System

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