The headline of this article caught my eye first. Pluto a Planet Again — On Friday the 13th, in Illinois, but the title is a little over zealous. Apparently we are just honoring the founder of Pluto, but still I wouldn’t put it past the State of Illinois to embarass itself in this way.
http://news.nationalgeographic.co.uk/news/2009/03/090311-pluto-planet-illinois.html
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The international community (at least some of them) have declared that Pluto is no longer a planet, rather it is a dwarf planet. I think this is an extremely cool event. I always wanted to know who makes those kinds of decisions and who has that authority, now we know. Ultimately I guess the new definition will only stick as long as people accept it. This has got to be a big boom for the text book industry too, because now they have to re-write (and re-sell of course) text books to account for this change.
Personally, I think it is a good decision. Where does Pluto get off thinking it is a planet. It is a little chunk of rock, smaller than our moon (I beleive) that doesn’t even bother staying in the same plane as the rest of the planets. Unbelievable!
I am happy with 8 planets. I think it is a good move. I am anxious to see how the rest of the world accepts this.
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