Tomorrow is the anniversary of the twenty-seventh month of Pluto's demotion.
Let us have a moment of silence for those of us who spent decades believing in our 'little planet that could."
Pluto, we still remember your glory. (February 18, 1930 - August 24, 2006)
Hello world!
5 years ago
5 comments:
Whatever happened to Goofy?
Apparently, I'm not the only one having a slightly silly Sunday.
Imagine saying that quickly ten times.
We can do a whole lot more than remember Pluto's glory. I encourage you to join the fight to have Pluto's planet status reinstated. The demotion was done by only four percent of the International Astronomical Union, most of whom are not planetary scientists. No absentee voting was allowed. It was done in a highly controversial process that violated the IAU’s own bylaws, and it was immediately opposed by a petition of 300 professional astronomers led by Dr. Alan Stern, Principal Investigator of NASA's New Horizons mission to Pluto, saying they will not use the new definition, which they described accurately as “sloppy.” You can find that petition here: http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/planetprotest/
Also significant is the fact that many planetary scientists are not IAU members and therefore had no say in this matter at all.
The IAU definition makes no linguistic sense, as it states that dwarf planets are not planets at all. That’s like saying a grizzly bear is not a bear. Second, it defines objects solely by where they are while ignoring what they are. If Earth were placed in Pluto’s orbit, by the IAU definition, it would not be a planet. That is because the further away an object is from its parent star, the more difficulty it will have in clearing its orbit.
Dissenting astronomers believe that Pluto IS a planet because unlike most objects in the Kuiper Belt, it has attained hydrostatic equilibrium, meaning it has enough self-gravity to have pulled itself into a round shape. When an object is large enough for this to happen, it becomes differentiated with core, mantle, and crust, just like Earth and the larger planets, and develops the same geological processes as the larger planets, processes that inert asteroids and most KBOs do not have.
Not distinguishing between shapeless asteroids and objects whose composition clearly makes them planets is a disservice and is sloppy science.
Many believe we should keep the term planet broad to encompass any non-self-luminous spheroidal object orbiting a star.
We can distinguish different types of planets with subcategories such as terrestrial planets, gas giants, ice giants, dwarf planets, super Earths, hot Jupiters, etc.
I attended the Great Planet Debate, a conference held in response to the IAU demotion, held in August 2008, and there was a strong consensus there that a broader, more encompassing planet definition is needed. I encourage anyone interested to listen to and view the conference proceedings at http://gpd.jhuapl.edu/ You can also read more about this issue on my blog at http://laurele.livejournal.com
In short, this debate is far from over, so I wouldn't write planet Pluto's obituary just yet.
Laurel,
Thanks for the information. I had read in the early days of the demotion that many in the field opposed the decision. I didn't realize anyone was actively trying to return Pluto to its former title as a planet.
On a side note, perhaps I'm still just too new to blogging or just blogspot in general, but I have no idea how you found my blog. I haven't done a great deal of exploring, but I have noticed a lack of any real search function to locate other blogs on the site.
I'm just curious as to how someone in New Jersey found my little post in less than six hours.
Okay, here's my secret. You can subscribe to Google alerts on any topic. Whenever someone posts anything mentioning that specific word or phrase, Google sends you an email alert with a link to the source. As you've probably already guessed, being someone who has written extensively for 27 months attempting to get Pluto's demotion overturned, I subscribe to Google alerts on the word Pluto. I've found and commented on many blogs this way, to the point that many astronomers know who I am and have written entire blog posts, usually humorous, about my Pluto comments all over the Internet.
When I believe in something, I fight for it with everything I have. From day one, I was convinced that the demotion of Pluto was wrong, and through the Internet, I've connected with people and groups all over the world, including professional astronomers, who share this conviction and are determined to see Pluto and all dwarf planets reinstated to full planet status. I hope you decide to join the effort. Contact information to write to IAU officials can be found at the web site of my friend and fellow Pluto advocate Siobhan Elias at http://www.dwarfplanetsrplanets2.com
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