http://seattle.metblogs.com/2009/02/23/readings-signings-and-other-events-vaguely-literary-for-monday-february-23-2009/ Mon, 29 Nov 2010 17:32:19 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 http://seattle.metblogs.com/2009/02/23/readings-signings-and-other-events-vaguely-literary-for-monday-february-23-2009/comment-page-1/#comment-16534 laurele Mon, 23 Feb 2009 22:06:55 +0000 http://seattle.metblogs.com/?p=9312#comment-16534 No, Pluto is NOT just a big rock. The controversial demotion by the International Astronomical Union was done by only four percent of its members, most of whom are not planetary scientists. It was immediately opposed by hundreds of professional astronomers led by Dr. Alan Stern, Principal Investigator of NASA's New Horizons mission to Pluto. The reason Pluto is not a "big rock" and different from most other objects in the Kuiper Belt is that it has achieved a state known as hydrostatic equilibrium. This means it is large enough for its own self-gravity to pull it into a round shape--a characteristic of planets and not of shapeless asteroids and Kuiper Belt Objects. There are several other spherical Kuiper Belt Objects that should also be considered planets--Haumea, Makemake, and Eris--as well as Ceres in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. This debate is far from over, and even now, both scientists and lay people are working to overturn the demotion or are ignoring it altogether. No, Pluto is NOT just a big rock. The controversial demotion by the International Astronomical Union was done by only four percent of its members, most of whom are not planetary scientists. It was immediately opposed by hundreds of professional astronomers led by Dr. Alan Stern, Principal Investigator of NASA’s New Horizons mission to Pluto. The reason Pluto is not a "big rock" and different from most other objects in the Kuiper Belt is that it has achieved a state known as hydrostatic equilibrium. This means it is large enough for its own self-gravity to pull it into a round shape–a characteristic of planets and not of shapeless asteroids and Kuiper Belt Objects. There are several other spherical Kuiper Belt Objects that should also be considered planets–Haumea, Makemake, and Eris–as well as Ceres in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. This debate is far from over, and even now, both scientists and lay people are working to overturn the demotion or are ignoring it altogether.

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