Pluto was demoted to the status of dwarf planet by the International Astronomical Union's assembly in Prague last week. While Pluto meets two of the three qualifications of a planet (it orbits the sun and is large enough to have a round shape) it fails to clear the other objects from its orbit. The vote has been met with controversy, in no small portion due to the fact that only the 424 astronomers that remained in Prague for the concluding day of the conference voted on the demotion. Mike Brown, the discoverer of newly categorized dwarf planet UB313 (quite a name), said that he "may go down in history as the guy who killed Pluto" (BBC, Aug. 25).\nWe all owe Mr. Brown one huge "thank you" for his slaying of the tiny beast. Pluto has been masquerading since its discovery in 1930 as a rock in planet's clothing. Pluto is the Roman god of the underworld, he is Mickey Mouse's dog, but he is no planet. \nBut seriously, scientific research since its discovery has been debated about the former planet. Given the limited information that scientists can gather because Pluto has not yet been visited by spacecraft and that it fails the new requirements, scientists are correct in demoting it. A major reason that scientists and others have argued against renaming Pluto a dwarf planet, despite scientific evidence, is a strong social pull to let be what so many generations learned in grade school. However, this is a poor reason to allow scientific progress to be thwarted. Social concepts of something should not overcome actual knowledge. People will easily be able to remember this change, and students can learn about the Pluto "that used to be a planet." After all, how often do most of us think about Pluto in a given day (no offense to astronomers, who do very important work)? The mnemonic device for the order of the nine planets no longer applies, but IU professor of astronomy Phyllis Lugger gives a solution: "My Very Educated Mother Just Served Us Nachos."\nMmmmmm, nachos...
Dissent: Preserving Pluto\nImagine if less than one-fifth of Congress voted to adopt an official religion, or nationalize the U.S. economy, or make any other big decision -- sounds awfully undemocratic, huh? And yet, the IAU did just that in its demotion of Pluto -- not only did you and I not get a say in the matter, neither did the vast majority of astronomers.\nAnd, to make matters worse, their definition of a planet is entirely arbitrary. To quote astronomer Alan Stern, head of the NASA mission sending a robotic explorer to Pluto: "It's as if we declared people not people for some arbitrary reason, like 'they tend to live in groups'" (BBC, Aug. 25). Stern also notes that the definition is inconsistent, demoting Pluto for failing to clear "the neighborhood around its orbit" (i.e. taking an elliptical path), while Neptune has not cleared "its neighborhood" of Pluto.\nHey, IAU: Nine is fine!
