That was the message as friends and colleagues of the late Clyde Tombaugh, the astronomer who discovered Pluto, gathered on the New Mexico State University campus to protest the International Astronomical Union's recent decision to strip Pluto of its status as a planet.
About 50 students and staff members turned out Friday for the good-natured challenge. Some were wearing T-shirts and carrying signs that read "Protest for Pluto" and "Size Doesn't Matter."
The alternative was much, much worse. It was either downgrade Pluto, or add up to 13 other objects to the roster. It's still a special object, and will always will be. Just not a planet.
Nope. Pluto has been a planet in our collective consciousness for so long, downgrading it is no more than an exercise in scientific pedantry.
Why is it a choice between two things? That sounds like the classic American good/evil-black/white-life/death-yin/yang-creation/evolution-republican/democrat way of thinking.
It's not like they just discovered the Earth wasn't flat. I think that geography teacher who got in trouble should fly the flag in Pluto in protest.
Well, it's a choice between two things (often many things) because that's the nature of science. Science attempts to classify and define the world around us.
Pluto has been know as a planet for a long time, but astronomers were unaware (theory not notwithstanding) of objects larger and of similar composition and orbit just beyond it. Science has to adapt to new facts...that's really all this is.
The fact is that this is science, and as scientist we aim to quantify and classify everything we see around us. Downgrading Pluto is much better then adding 13 other astronomical bodies and tagging them as planets.
I mean imagine if we classified other things because they were called one thing or the other for so long? Like say dolphins = fishes?
And plus, just because it's no longer a planet doesn't mean it ceases to exist.
Why is it a choice between two things? That sounds like the classic American good/evil-black/white-life/death-yin/yang-creation/evolution-republican/democrat way of thinking.
It's not like they just discovered the Earth wasn't flat. I think that geography teacher who got in trouble should fly the flag in Pluto in protest.
Pluto has been know as a planet for a long time, but astronomers were unaware (theory not notwithstanding) of objects larger and of similar composition and orbit just beyond it. Science has to adapt to new facts...that's really all this is.
No one's ever going to go there; that is until George Bush decides it's a terrorist threat and carpet bombs it.
I mean imagine if we classified other things because they were called one thing or the other for so long? Like say dolphins = fishes?
And plus, just because it's no longer a planet doesn't mean it ceases to exist.