The Pluto Controversy

Who ever thought that the International Astronomical Union voting to take away the <a href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060825/ap_on_sc/planet_mutiny">status of Pluto as a planet</a> would create such controversy. Some people are very upset by it. I saw a cartoon right after it happened that poked fun at it but I didn't think that it would come true.<br />n<br />n<center><a class='serendipity_image_link' href='http://www.geekculture.com/joyoftech/joyarchives/861.html'><img width='543' height='588' border='0' hspace='5' src='http://www.sarpysam.com/sarpysam/uploads/pluto.gif' alt='' /></a></center><br />n<br />nSure enough, it has burst out into the scene and is becoming true.<br />n<br />n<a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/5283956.stm" >Pluto vote 'hijacked' in revolt</a><br />n<br />n<blockquote>A fierce backlash has begun against the decision by astronomers to strip Pluto of its status as a planet.<br />n<br />nOn Thursday, experts approved a definition of a planet that demoted Pluto to a lesser category of object.<br />n<br />nBut the lead scientist on Nasa's robotic mission <br />n<br />nto Pluto has lambasted the ruling, calling it "embarrassing".<br />n<br />nAnd the chair of the committee set up to oversee agreement on a definition implied that the vote had effectively been "hijacked".<br />n<br />n The vote took place at the International Astronomical Union's (IAU) 10-day General Assembly in Prague. The IAU has been the official naming body for astronomy since 1919.<br />n<br />nOnly 424 astronomers who remained in Prague for the last day of the meeting took part.<br />n<br />nAn initial proposal by the IAU to add three new planets to the Solar System – the asteroid Ceres, Pluto's moon Charon and the distant world known as 2003 UB313 – met with considerable opposition at the meeting. Days of heated debate followed during which four separate proposals were tabled.<br />n<br />nEventually, the scientists adopted historic guidelines that see Pluto relegated to a secondary category of "dwarf planets". </blockquote><br />n<br />nNASA thinks it's dumb and the controversy now centers on if there was a quorum available to even do this. Are we going to have to in the future reinstate Pluto as a planet because there was no quorum? I don't know but tempers are hot out there.<br />n<br />nThen there is the advice out there on how to deal with the emotional issues, yes emotional issues, involved with Pluto no longer being a planet.<br />n<br />n<a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/08/27/AR2006082700644.html" >What One Fewer Planet Means to Our Worldview</a><br />n<br />n<blockquote>Is Pluto a planet?<br />n<br />nThe world's astronomers met in Prague last week to vote on this question, and in a sort of cosmic game of "Survivor," they voted Pluto off the solar system.<br />n<br />nMany people were anguished. One colleague asked, "Don't you think it's at least possible that somewhere we're being voted off the solar system?"<br />n……..<br />n<br />n"The world is not to be divided into sheep and goats. Not all things are black nor all things white. It is a fundamental of taxonomy that nature rarely deals with discrete categories. Only the human mind invents categories and tries to force facts into separated pigeon-holes. The living world is a continuum in each and every one of its aspects."</blockquote><br />n<br />nI never would have imagined such a controversy. Who cares? Planet or not, it's still a part of the solar system and will be getting a visit from a NASA probe paid for by the taxpayers. Pluto still has some status obviously.<br />n<br />n<strong>I don’t deal in controversy. I deal in fun. It’s separate from reality. Dean Young</strong>