24 August 2006

Victory

Pluto Is No Longer a Planet, Astronomers Say (William J. Kole, AP, 8/24/06)
Leading astronomers declared Thursday that Pluto is no longer a planet under historic new guidelines that downsize the solar system from nine planets to eight.
I have no idea what this is supposed to mean:
It was unclear how Pluto's demotion might affect the mission of NASA's New Horizons spacecraft, which earlier this year began a 961/27-year journey to the oddball object to unearth more of its secrets.
It is now the first probe to a Dwarf Planet. We ignore these phenomena at our peril.

Now, on to the Moon.

5 comments:

Brit said...

Halfway there!

All the same, even in the joy of victory, I have to tip my hat to Pluto, that plucky little fella: he hung in there as long as he could. I'll miss him.

Brit said...

...Perhaps he'll wander off and find a more welcoming solar system, one that will be pleased to have him as a full-grown planet.

And then we'll be sorry.

joe shropshire said...

More in sadness than in anger, David. More in sadness than in anger.

David said...

Peter: Pluto is a modern innovation, having been discovered in 1930. Barely a blip on the conservative screen.

Secondly, we must eschew logo-realism, defined by AOG as "the belief that words are primary and that physical reality can be shaped by using the right words." Pluto continues to spin on her way, just as she has always done.

Oroborous said...

My favorite headline about the change: Farewell, Pluto — we thought the world of you