Here goes the backlash
August 26, 2006
Just a minor update on Pluto being demoted, again from BBC News: “A fierce backlash has begun against the decision by astronomers to strip Pluto of its status as a planet.”
As far as I know, the NASA called the decision “embarassing” (quoting from the same article), the widow of Pluto’s discoverer Clyde Tombaugh is disappointed, and (thanks to Kofi’s Hat) stickers have been distributed protesting the decision.
And so I began thinking. If Pluto was demoted primarily because its orbit intersects with that of Neptune, then Neptune must not be a planet as well, right?
The questions suddenly boils down to whether Pluto was just prounced on by bully astronomers, in my opinion. I don’t know, but some astronomers could be right: Dr Alan Stern from the NASA’s New Horizons mission to Pluto describes the event as “an awful definition”. Among others, he claims that the newly-set definitions for what a planet really is are inconsistent, citing that Earth, Mars, Jupiter and the aforementioned Neptune also have not cleared their orbits of other objects, either by asteroids in our case, or Pluto in Neptune’s.
Other astronomers point out that not everybody was able to participate in the crucial vote: indeed, the BBC reports that only 424 astronomers got to vote in the last day of the IAU meeting in Prague. Some propose the introduction of e-ballots in the future.
Nevertheless there doesn’t seem to be any reason to cancel the robotic mission to Pluto: the New Horizons mission is due to land in the former (but still contested) planet in the year 2015.
But, then again, we’re going to have a hard time changing mindsets. And the night after the decision - technically last night - a lot were pointing out the Pluto would suddenly be Mickey Mouse’s pet and nothing else. Looks like it wasn’t just me who’s alert enough.
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ust nalang kayo muna kumampi. hahaha!