> Isn't it possible that the only reason we think of Pluto as a planet is because, when it was discovered, astronomers said it was one? If they had said "Oh, we found this giant crazy asteroid flying around past Neptune" but didn't call it a planet, I think we'd probably only think of there being eight planets today (without this recent conference).
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> It will take me a while to get used to there only being eight planets, but then it's still taking me a while to get used to the fact that it isn't the 1990s anymore (a fact that I'm sure I've brought up every single day in RinkChat since January 1, 2000). I've always thought of myself as easily adaptable but I guess it isn't true.
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> -Eric "Pardon the total incoherency of this post; it's two in the morning and I'm very sleepy" Sleator

Now that they have succeeded in shooting down Pluto, is Mercury next?

In 1930, when Clyde W. Tombaugh first spotted Pluto, he assumed it was a comet. Studies of its orbit over a period of time determined that its path was not characteristic of a comet. It was also much too far from the asteroid belt to classify it as an asteroid. In those days, asteroids, comets, and their orbits were not as clearly understood as they are now. The only choice they had was to call it a planet.

We have to understand that nothing about Pluto has changed. It remains as it was when discovered. All of the changes have been made on a small planet much nearer the sun. Those changes are merely paper changes that were done by people who have never been to Pluto, and few of them have any firm plans to go there.

Recent press releases have placed the blame on Pluto's orbit, which spends a short time closer to the sun than Uranus. That orbit takes almost two and a half centuries to complete one revolution and about 96% (roughly calculated) is beyond Uranus' orbit. It will reach that offending arc again sometime in the 23rd century.

I tend to think of Pluto as a double planet. It has at least one moon that is nearly as large as the planet (or whatever) and they more or less swing around each other. Until that situation was discovered, Earth and its moon were closer to the same size than any other planet/satellite combination. Maybe next, they will create a catagory called "small double planets" or maybe "binary planets" and put Earth and Pluto in a class by themselves.

Is it just me, or did this whole matter start out so silly that it simply has to get sillier?
Howard