such a dork!

Plutonic Love

Looks like the great Pluto debate will soon be decided. If you're not aware, the astronomical community has been arguing for years now over whether or not Pluto is, in fact, a planet.

The problem stems from the fact that, if Pluto's a planet, so are a number of other objects. There is no formal definition of the word "planet" that leaves us with exactly nine in our solar system. The two front-runner theories put us either at eight by excluding Pluto from the mix, or twelve by adding Pluto's moon Charon, an asteroid named Ceres — which was considered a planet when it was first discovered — and another celestial body nicknamed Xena (yes, after the warrior princess).

Apparently, this all gets decided tomorrow. Grade school book publishers, I imagine, are in a frenzy.

What's really interesting about this, aside from the altering of one of the fundamental facts of our early education, is the personal stake people assume in this issue (something first brought to my attention by my friend J.R.). Look at some of the quotes from this article:

'Opponents "smell blood, and I think they're going to get it," Alan Boss, an astrophysicist at the Carnegie Institution in Washington, D.C., said on the eve of a vote by members of the International Astronomical Union.'

'Suddenly, the future looks dim for much-maligned Pluto, which is smaller than Earth's moon.'

'"Some say, 'No, Pluto is a nice planet'" and should remain one, Watanabe said.'

"Smell blood"? "Much-maligned"? "Nice planet"? It's a tiny, cold rock spinning erratically through space, farther out than any of us can hope to travel in our lifetime.

What's even crazier, though, is that I sort of get it. Pluto's small, and cold, and alone, and weird. Well, okay, having a moon sort of kills the "alone" part, but you catch my drift: it's the cosmic underdog. The Little Planet that Could (even though a planet doesn't really do anything, other than spin). And, if you're given to personification, it's the planet that's the most like any particular person who's geeky enough to care about the issue.

Sis, add "I am Pluto" to the list of t-shirts I will one day make for my own amusement. Perhaps with a graphic of tiny little Pluto, dwarfed by his bigger brothers, giving them all the finger.

Of course, having said all of this, I now have to admit that I actually favor dropping it as a planet. I don't know why, but it makes more sense to me to have eight planets than it does to have twelve. It seems tidier. Or maybe it seems like, once we start calling moons and asteroids planets, the door's open to start planetmaking all willy-nilly, and eventually it won't be anything special to be a planet anymore.

And again: why this emotional investment in the solar system?

I don't really have an answer. But tomorrow — for good, ill, or indifference — our universe changes.

posted by Smitty @ 5:19 PM