2008 Woodie Awards
Pluto Gets Laid Off
Danielle Carrillo
Issue date: 9/6/06 Section: Opinion
I died a little inside when I found out Pluto would no longer be a classic planet, but reduced to a dwarf planet (and Disney Character). Demotions are always difficult, and this one is no different.
I've always been on the forgiving side and agreed that size doesn't matter, but according to scientists, it does. Ok, so maybe size alone didn't knock Pluto out of our solar system, but it still failed to meet the new rules.
According to the New York Times, the International Astronomical Union voted that in order to be a planet "it must orbit the sun, it must be big enough for gravity to squash it into a round ball, and it must have cleared other things out of the way in it's orbital neighborhood."
While it does orbit the sun and is a round ball, poor little Pluto couldn't clear it's own path. On the plus side, it is now the leader of dwarf planets. The current set of dwarf planets will also include Ceres, the largest asteroid, and UB 313, an icy object that's larger than Pluto. And although it's sad to throw Pluto out of the planetary parade, it also means that not just any chunk of a partially-formed celestial object can call itself a planet. Not to hate on Ceres and UB 313, but seriously, do we want our children to think that we'll add anything to our solar system to make a few people (i.e. the people who discovered them) happy?
If we kept Pluto for sentimental reasons we'd have to include other barely there planets for other idiotic reasons.
But here is the silver lining behind all of this, we can now make a new Magic School Bus on the eight remaining planets. Ms. Frizzle and Co. can take us on a new adventure through the solar system.
They can also make a separate episode on the dwarf planets. A little controversy always helps, so maybe Ralphie and Phoebe can argue over what constitutes a planet. Ms. Frizzle will step in to try and clarify, but will ultimately take us to the dwarf planets instead of just teaching the kids with a lecture. We'll finally figure out what UB 313 is and why it's important, if at all. Then the class will run into some technical
difficulties that will inevitably be resolved by Dorothy Ann's research.
At the end of it all, I'll be able to sleep better at night because we'll have a new Magic School Bus to entertain ourselves with and we'll have the knowledge that Pluto may be gone but not forgotten. It's easier to erase one planet from the list than remember an extra three. Besides, twelve planets does sound a little eccentric.
I've always been on the forgiving side and agreed that size doesn't matter, but according to scientists, it does. Ok, so maybe size alone didn't knock Pluto out of our solar system, but it still failed to meet the new rules.
According to the New York Times, the International Astronomical Union voted that in order to be a planet "it must orbit the sun, it must be big enough for gravity to squash it into a round ball, and it must have cleared other things out of the way in it's orbital neighborhood."
While it does orbit the sun and is a round ball, poor little Pluto couldn't clear it's own path. On the plus side, it is now the leader of dwarf planets. The current set of dwarf planets will also include Ceres, the largest asteroid, and UB 313, an icy object that's larger than Pluto. And although it's sad to throw Pluto out of the planetary parade, it also means that not just any chunk of a partially-formed celestial object can call itself a planet. Not to hate on Ceres and UB 313, but seriously, do we want our children to think that we'll add anything to our solar system to make a few people (i.e. the people who discovered them) happy?
If we kept Pluto for sentimental reasons we'd have to include other barely there planets for other idiotic reasons.
But here is the silver lining behind all of this, we can now make a new Magic School Bus on the eight remaining planets. Ms. Frizzle and Co. can take us on a new adventure through the solar system.
They can also make a separate episode on the dwarf planets. A little controversy always helps, so maybe Ralphie and Phoebe can argue over what constitutes a planet. Ms. Frizzle will step in to try and clarify, but will ultimately take us to the dwarf planets instead of just teaching the kids with a lecture. We'll finally figure out what UB 313 is and why it's important, if at all. Then the class will run into some technical
difficulties that will inevitably be resolved by Dorothy Ann's research.
At the end of it all, I'll be able to sleep better at night because we'll have a new Magic School Bus to entertain ourselves with and we'll have the knowledge that Pluto may be gone but not forgotten. It's easier to erase one planet from the list than remember an extra three. Besides, twelve planets does sound a little eccentric.
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