Planet defined – now there are eight
The votes are in and the community has spoken – Pluto is not a planet. Clifford explains all at his new blog, Asymptotia. At the end of the day, it looks like the IAU have a pretty good democratic process in place.
There was much wailing on our local radio station this morning – textbooks to be rewritten! Confusion in high school science class! How will the kids digest this new and confusing information? I suspect that they’ll take it in their stride. It’s not difficult – eight, not nine. That’s science – it’s not static, ideas change with new information. Science teachers should see this as a great opportunity to discuss the nature of science, but I suppose most school science is more concerned with rote learning of facts just like “how many planets”.
Excellent and important point.
Cheers,
-cvj
cvj
August 25, 2006 at 10:44 am
[...] The Pluto issue is obviously a valuable loss-leader. It’s the shiny thing in front of the store being sold off cheaply that gets customers in the door. Who knows what else will catch their eye once they’re in the store? For example, that Pluto issue exposes the public to the issue of planetary science. They’ll want to know why it is being demoted, and they’ll quickly find out that there are good science issues there. Of course we want them to learn all the fancy stuff going on in the “big science” issues, the concerns of the universe at large, but it is fantastic that they’ll learn that there’s a great deal of science going on right in our “back yard” -the Solar System- (for example, the recently appreciated richness of the Kupier belt, which threatens to produce tens if not hundreds of Pluto-like objects), and that the contents of science textbooks can change -reflecting the life and vitality of science (a point nicely made at this link too). They’ll learn that all these issues pertain to big questions about how our Solar system came to be, and from there, maybe about how these issues connect to the search for planets about other stars, and so forth. Science is all connected. [...]
Spinach Blogging - Asymptotia
August 25, 2006 at 12:18 pm
Uhm… wasn’t it already established that pluto was/is a dog?
(sorry, just had to take a shot at it…)
Anyhow, I find this interesting and almost a natural thing to happen. Things get discovered everyday and sometimes things we thought were right, come short.
I’m reading a great book that talks about scientific discoveries over the centuries and time after time things got turned over and over. So, it’s just that time now. Bye bye Pluto… who knows if next year we have a new planet and then we’re back to number nine again :)
Rick
August 25, 2006 at 12:36 pm
The beeb has a followup story, where there is much gnashing of teeth at the alleged hijack of the vote by dynamicists. The figures are somewhat startling, with accusations that the vote was deliberately scheduled on the last day of the meeting when many people had left, so that only 4% of delegates wound up voting.
Ah, politics of academia…
chris
August 26, 2006 at 12:59 am
so that only 4% of delegates wound up voting
Mmm, OK, so much for the democratic process. Still, I think the consensus was definitely against “plutons” earlier in the week. Besides, it’s ultimately the right decision IMHO :)
nsaunders
August 27, 2006 at 5:17 pm
It’s strange isn’t it when science gets politicized.
I definitely prefer the “pluto is not a planet” vote. More elegant, and a question I remember asking my dad many years ago. I was amazed with how confusing the whole pluton concept was. Talking about confusing kids.
Deepak
August 28, 2006 at 2:34 am