How do you feel about the fact that Pluto is no longer a planet?

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   itsandreawilsonposted 14 years ago

   How do you feel about the fact that Pluto is no longer a planet?

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   Smax115posted 14 years ago

   I was kind of bummed out when I heard that it had lost its status.  As a kid, I think that I always liked Pluto because it was one of the extremes; the furthest thing away that I could concieve of at that age.  Since it was a planet, it seemed like there was a possibility that some mysterious creatures could live there, a topic that was common in the sci-fi I read when I was younger.  Calling it a moon or a satellite just doesn't have the same appeal; it makes it seem less important.  I get that the name makes no difference, and that scientifically it doesn't meet certain qualifications that supposedly define a planet, but I wish they'd just left it the way it was out of tradition or something.  It's weirdly nostalgic for me.

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   3 Finger Readerposted 14 years ago

   Strangely sad--though that emotion doesn't make sense, really. 
   
   But it's science--and whatever truth or understanding it uncovers *should* always change or evolve as time goes on or we're not doing it right.
   
   I think it saddens me because it represents my past and my childhood (I was much happier as a child).

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   pueblomanposted 14 years ago

   I felt terribly sad at first. Couldn't stop crying.
   
   Then I went through a period of intense anger.
   
   Joining a self help group allowed me to access what we learned to call the "planetary void" in our lives.
   
   Now I don't give a f**k.

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   MickSposted 14 years ago

   Oh, I feel really bitter and twisted inside that astronomers could so unfeelingly mistreat that lump of ice and rock.  What is this waste of space bit of triviality.

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   GD Nunesposted 14 years ago

   When I first heard about it, I thought it was stupid. Pluto has been a planet since before I was in elementary school - why change it?
   
   But once I understood why it was done, it made sense. As telescopes got better, astronomers began finding other objects roughly the same size as Pluto, or even bigger, orbiting the sun. If Pluto is a planet, then these other objects are, as well. Either the solar system would have an ever-increasing number of planets, or objects of that type would have to be reclassified.
   
   Don't be sad for Pluto. It may not be a planet anymore, but it turns out it has lots of friends out there at the edge of the solar system.

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   point2makeposted 14 years ago

   I guess scientific "truth" and theory must evolve but it does beg the question.
   With all the money and effort going into discovering planets orbiting distant stars....do you suppose that if a "pluto" size planetoid is one day discovered that the headlines might read "new planet discovered around distant star" or "small asteroid like body discovered around distant star"?
   I can't help but wonder what the scientists who demoted Pluto would think....about such a discovery.

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