Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Pluto for planethood!


I saw this bumper sticker in the science room at the elementary school where I'm completing my first practicum and I totally want one...

2 comments:

Tony B. said...

The one I saw said:

"Aw, let Pluto be a Planet", which I like too.

Alvy said...

Dudes, it's not a planet. It's not like excluding a fat kid from the track team. It's science. While it does orbit the sun and did become rounded by the force of its own gravity, it does not "dominate its own area", being only about twice as big as its own moon. If we qualify Pluto as a planet, then we have to include the 40 or so other "dwarf planets" of the same basic size.

Let's be honest. We want to keep Pluto a planet because that's what we were told as children. Let's not infantilize the truth. Your very educated mother just showed you... eight planets. And some other stuff.

It's still lovable old Pluto (only 35x the Earth's distance from the sun and -400 degrees Farenheit)!