Miller 1

Erin Miller

Heather Bivens

English 101

13 October 2010

In Loving Memory of Pluto 1930-2006

On August 24, 2006, after over a year of heated debate, a controversial decision was

finally reached by the International Astronomical Union (I.A.U.) regarding the classification of

Pluto. This decision effectively strips the icy celestial body of its planetary title and stamps it on

the forehead with its new label, “dwarf planet.” In this essay I will present reasons why many

sentimental Pluto fans, myself included, are uncomfortable with the extreme judgment and feel

that our favorite icy celestial body should have been allowed to keep its title as the ninth

planet.

In January of 2005 an orbiting celestial body with a larger mass than Pluto was detected

for the first time by Dr. Mike Brown, a planetary scientist with the California Institute of

Technology. In July of 2005, Dr. Brown and his colleagues announced their discovery, giving it

the informal name “Xena.” (Overbye A20) Although Xena has an extremely elongated elliptical

orbit that takes it five-hundred and sixty years to complete, it does periodically find its way

much closer to Earth than Pluto ever will. (Caltech) This fact is new information was prefaced by

the fact that Pluto spends about twenty years of its, slightly less extreme but still unusually

elliptical two-hundred and forty-eight year orbit inside of Neptune’s orbit. Although these
 Miller 2

kinds of technicalities may seem unimportant to some, they were big factors in the I.A.U.’s long

and much debated decision-making process.

Within a year of Xena’s discovery, more than half a dozen other Pluto-sized or larger

trans-neptunian bodies were discovered in our solar system. These objects were all found in a

region of space towards the outer edge of the solar system called the “Kuiper belt.” This area of

space wasn't able to be confirmed or viewed until the early 1990’s and even then the newly

detected celestial objects weren’t detectable until 2005 because of their non-reflective nature.

It was quickly realized that Pluto had been one of these Kuiper belt objects all along and

more of these small solar system bodies continuing to be found. It became obvious, given the

vastness and composition of the Kuiper belt, there could be an impractical amount of planets in

our solar system if we were to use the same criteria for the classification of planets that we

have been using up until now. To preserve the general understanding of the solar system, a

modification was made to the definition of “planet” and a new term “dwarf planet” was

introduced. This term “dwarf planet” was to be used for all the newly discovered planetary

KBOs (Kuiper belt objects).

This topic has caused a negative and sometimes quite emotional effect on many people

as it, in essence, negates a found part of their childhood. Kreider recalls his own words on the

subject, “I informed the assembled scientists that, first of all, no way was I or anyone else about

to unmemorize anything we’d already been forced to learn in elementary school. (A23)

Furthermore, it’s my personal opinion that fantastic things such as the “Grandfather Clause”

exist primarily for debacles just like this, where it would be beneficial to a good cause and

harmful to no one if we could somehow apply completely different sets of standards to two or
 Miller 3

more like entities and still reasonably maintain that our actions were unbiased and fair to all

parties. There are so many areas of society where seemingly hypocritical actions have been and

still are explained away with a little help from grandfather that it seems almost illogical that we

didn’t apply it to this situation and save the poor ugly duckling of the solar system from such a

shameful and dishonorable discharge.

In the end, at least for now, our solar system has both “planets” and “dwarf planets.”

However, I haven’t lost all hope for the possibility of eventual vindication and reinstatement

into planet hood. It might even be hundreds or thousands of years from now. As I recall, the

fabled ugly duckling didn’t stay an outcast forever and I don’t believe that Pluto will either.
 Miller 4

Works Cited

California Institute of Technology. “Pluto Downgraded to ‘Dwarf Planet’ Status; Solar System

Now Has Eight Planet." Science Daily 24 Aug. 2006. 26 Sept. 2010

<http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/08/060825003742.html>

Kreider, Tim. “I Pluto.” New York Times 23 Aug. 2006, New York ed.: A20. Print.

Overbye, Dennis. “Astronomers in a Quandary Over Pluto’s Status.” New York Times 23 Aug.

2006, New York ed.: A23. Print.