Then Again…

by Max Wavering,  HFH uncertainty columnist

Tiny Pluto – Planet or Pretender?

Gosh darn it – How can we be sure of anything?  Now that 2001 has rolled around, finally putting to bed those tedious arguments about when the new millennium/century actually began, a new, even more controversial issue is sweeping the solar system.

It seems Neil de Grasse Tyson, director of the Hayden Planetarium in New York City has unilaterally demoted the ninth planet, Pluto, to the unseemly status of a “Kuiper Belt Object” – In other words, he has relegated the diminutive, American-discovered world to just another of thousands, perhaps millions, of nameless blobs of dirty ice that are thought to swarm around our solar system outside the orbit of Neptune, the eighth planet.

And then there were eight: Distant and diminutive 
Pluto -- kicked out of the solar system's  exclusive
planetary club? (image credit: NASA)

Indeed, under Mr. Tyson’s unilateral dictum, no longer will the venerable planetarium honor Pluto as a planet in its exhibits and shows.

Though the status of the mysterious globe – which shares its name both with the Roman god who lords over the underworld and a lovable Disney character – is controversial amongst astronomers, such a degradation begs us regular Earthlings to rethink many other assumptions that have formed the pillars of our worldview.  After all, if Pluto isn't a planet then we have to wonder:

Who or what would you bust in rank if you could? Send your demotion candidates to maxwavering@uncertaintypark.com and I’ll add them to the list.  Then again…