PlutOwned
by John Paczkowski
Posted on June 15, 2007 at 11:43 AM PT
Scientifically, there really is no question [that Pluto should be reclassified]. Either Pluto is not a planet, or many other things are planets. Which is a better choice? I want my planets to be more special, not less special, so I favor Pluto not being a planet. Emotionally, though, I have to admit that I have grown up thinking Pluto [is] this special oddball planet at the edge of the solar system. While I now know scientifically that Pluto is less special, it’s still hard to let go.”
–California Institute of Technology astronomer Michael Brown, 2004
The scientific community really has it out for Pluto, doesn’t it? Delisted from the planetary rolls last year after a wholesale redefinition of planethood determined it was actually the largest of the dwarf planets, Pluto suffered another humiliation yesterday when astronomers announced that Eris, Pluto’s recently discovered neighbor, outweighs it by about 27%. “There was a possibility that Pluto and Eris were roughly the same size, but these new results show that it’s second place at best for Pluto,” said Caltech astronomer Brown. “I don’t think we’re picking on Pluto. … It’s just the truth. It [Eris] just is more massive than Pluto. It’s just the way it is.”
Comments
“I want my planets to be more special, not less special, so I favor Pluto not being a planet.”
This is hardly a scientific comment. What makes a planet “special?” Who decides? Why can there not be many subcategories of planets, each with their own unique features? The alternative conclusion, which Brown rejects, that many other things are planets, makes far more sense. If that means we end up with a solar system of 100 planet, so be it. Changing designations just for our convenience is not a scientific decision. The IAU’s classification of a dwarf planet as not a planet at all makes no sense either. And we already knew Eris was bigger than Pluto so it makes sense that if their composition is very similar, Eris would also be more massive. That changes nothing; it does not preclude Pluto and Eris from being the solar system’s ninth and tenth planets. Dr. Brown’s discovery of Eris is a tremendous accomplishment, but it does not give him the right to dictate and impose his view of “just the way it is.”
Posted by Laurel Kornfeld at July 14th, 2007 at 11:13 am