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IAU Demotes Pluto to 'Dwarf Planet' Status

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the and-then-there-were-eight dept.

davidwr writes "It's official. Pluto's been demoted. It's now one of several 'dwarf planets.' I guess we can drop the 'Period' from 'Mary's violet eyes make John stay up nights.'" (Of course, no one says you have to privately agree with the International Astronomical Union.) Several readers have contributed links to the BBC's coverage of the downgrade, as well as the usefully illustrated story at MSNBC.

7 of 424 comments (clear)

  1. Astrologers panic! by grub · · Score: 5, Insightful


    So will this render all astrological predictions which took Pluto into account as invalid? I'm sure the kooks will come up with some excuse to explain how their previous charts were accurate at seeing the future as if they ~knew~ this all along.

    --
    Trolling is a art,
    1. Re:Astrologers panic! by Rob+T+Firefly · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Astrologers will just keep on as before. The Astrological usage of the word "planet" includes the traditional planets as well as the Sun, the Moon, the planetoid 2060 Chiron, and really whatever else one desires to keep track of in their system of astrology.

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  2. Why is this "breaking news" by HikingStick · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I just can't understand why this story of Pluto's reclassification is deemed "breaking news" on the major news websites. It's not as if it just changed orbit and was streaking straight for New Jersey...

    Now that would be breaking news!

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    I use irony whenever I can, but my shirts are still wrinkled...
  3. Re:That changes everything by MBGMorden · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Is it just me or does anyone else find it harder to remember these damn phrases than it would be to just remember the planets and their order?

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    "People who think they know everything are very annoying to those of us who do."-Mark Twain
  4. Re:So why does Neptune qualify? by unjedai · · Score: 3, Insightful

    If you consider that comets cross the orbits of all the planets, then none of the planets qualify.

  5. Re:Stupid by Reality+Master+101 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Given the level of scientific illiteracy, what the hell is the point of taking something that everyone does know and declaring it to be wrong?

    "Everyone" knew there were eight planets prior to 1930. Did the world end when it was changed to nine, especially with something that wasn't even obviously a planet?

    Guess what? A whole generation of children will grow up with the new, consistent rules and won't know any different. What's unarguable is that the new rules are better. I'm all in favor of fixing things that are broken, even if certain curmudgeons are too mentally inflexible to make the adjustment. See also: the metric system in the US, which is kept down by the same curmudgeons.

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    Sometimes it's best to just let stupid people be stupid.
  6. Pluto and Neptune by thundergeek · · Score: 3, Insightful

    FTA - "Pluto is automatically disqualified because its oblong orbit overlaps with Neptune's." and from the definition, "and has cleared the neighborhood around its rbit."

    Doesn't that mean that Neptune also hasn't cleared it's neighborhood? It's orbit overlaps that of Pluto. So why is IT a planet?