An Intergalactic Injustice
(The following is the text of a letter I've sent to all the
right people tonight to protest the ridiculous action of the
International Astronomy Union.)
Dear Fellow Citizens Of The Universe:
I am writing to you tonight on a matter of great concern. As you may
have heard, Pluto has been stripped of its official planetary status it has
held since the 1930s and been demoted to "dwarf" status. For a CNN report
on this foul mis-treatmentof a celestial body that has not harmed or offended
anyone on this planet, click on the following link:
http://www.cnn.com/2006/TECH/space/08/24/pluto.ap/index.html
I don't know about you, but this really makes me see red. Pluto has been out there minding its own business for untold billions of years, way before we even knew it was there. True, it is small and probably not capable of supporting life, but that doesn't make it any less of a planet. Now these presumptuous twits calling themselves the International Astronomy Union have decided Pluto does not meet their arbitrary standards of what a planet is or isn't. It only took them 76 years to reverse their original determination of its planetary status. But then again, it only took the Catholic church 400 years to decide Galileo was right after all, so maybe I shouldn't complain.
I have news for these silly people: Pluto doesn't care what they think, and it especially doesn't care about some ridiculous piece of paper drawn up several billion miles away declaring it no longer a planet. It will keep on orbiting the solar system like it has for untold millenia long after we're all dust. Mankind is so vain and power-crazed, they actually think this "declaration" will cause some change in the natural order of things.
I should emphasize here that I am not protesting the general science of astronomy. I have spent many fascinating hours looking at the rings of Saturn, for example. We should continue to observe, explore and map the galaxy to the best of our abilities. This universe is much too big for us to be the only sentient life forms in it, and I hope to live to see some definite proof of this. But the actions of the IAU remind me of self-proclaimed environmentalists who think they can reverse global warming by issuing official proclamations and adopting governmental treaties. Mama Earth is going to do what she wants, and so will Pluto.
Pluto may not even be the outermost planet in our solar system. Recent observations with the Hubble telescope and observatories on Earth have given strong indications there may be more planets out there. Just because we can't yet see them with our present crude instruments doesn't mean they don't exist, or that they are not planets. As our exploration of the galaxy continues and broadens, we are quite likely to find many additional celestial bodies orbiting our Sun or other stars. I suppose this will set off another round of tail-chasing by the International Astronomy Union as they attempt to assign "planetary status" to this big round ball but not that one. Some of the outer planets in our own solar system may be nothing more than congealed gas clouds with no physical surface or mass to speak of. Why are they considered planets when Pluto is not?
I urge all of you who feel strongly about this to write to the IAU at:
http://www.iau.org/
to protest this arbitrary and unnecessary reclassification. White you're at it, write to NASA and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and any other astronomical organization you can find to let them know we do NOT approve of this move. We have more important things to worry about, like asteroids on possible collision courses with our home planet, to get our bloomers in a wad about a tiny planet several billion miles out there we may never visit.
The universe is unfolding as it should. Let it be.
G.T. Tyson
Greenville NC
252-756-1805
right people tonight to protest the ridiculous action of the
International Astronomy Union.)
Dear Fellow Citizens Of The Universe:
I am writing to you tonight on a matter of great concern. As you may
have heard, Pluto has been stripped of its official planetary status it has
held since the 1930s and been demoted to "dwarf" status. For a CNN report
on this foul mis-treatmentof a celestial body that has not harmed or offended
anyone on this planet, click on the following link:
http://www.cnn.com/2006/TECH/space/08/24/pluto.ap/index.html
I don't know about you, but this really makes me see red. Pluto has been out there minding its own business for untold billions of years, way before we even knew it was there. True, it is small and probably not capable of supporting life, but that doesn't make it any less of a planet. Now these presumptuous twits calling themselves the International Astronomy Union have decided Pluto does not meet their arbitrary standards of what a planet is or isn't. It only took them 76 years to reverse their original determination of its planetary status. But then again, it only took the Catholic church 400 years to decide Galileo was right after all, so maybe I shouldn't complain.
I have news for these silly people: Pluto doesn't care what they think, and it especially doesn't care about some ridiculous piece of paper drawn up several billion miles away declaring it no longer a planet. It will keep on orbiting the solar system like it has for untold millenia long after we're all dust. Mankind is so vain and power-crazed, they actually think this "declaration" will cause some change in the natural order of things.
I should emphasize here that I am not protesting the general science of astronomy. I have spent many fascinating hours looking at the rings of Saturn, for example. We should continue to observe, explore and map the galaxy to the best of our abilities. This universe is much too big for us to be the only sentient life forms in it, and I hope to live to see some definite proof of this. But the actions of the IAU remind me of self-proclaimed environmentalists who think they can reverse global warming by issuing official proclamations and adopting governmental treaties. Mama Earth is going to do what she wants, and so will Pluto.
Pluto may not even be the outermost planet in our solar system. Recent observations with the Hubble telescope and observatories on Earth have given strong indications there may be more planets out there. Just because we can't yet see them with our present crude instruments doesn't mean they don't exist, or that they are not planets. As our exploration of the galaxy continues and broadens, we are quite likely to find many additional celestial bodies orbiting our Sun or other stars. I suppose this will set off another round of tail-chasing by the International Astronomy Union as they attempt to assign "planetary status" to this big round ball but not that one. Some of the outer planets in our own solar system may be nothing more than congealed gas clouds with no physical surface or mass to speak of. Why are they considered planets when Pluto is not?
I urge all of you who feel strongly about this to write to the IAU at:
http://www.iau.org/
to protest this arbitrary and unnecessary reclassification. White you're at it, write to NASA and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and any other astronomical organization you can find to let them know we do NOT approve of this move. We have more important things to worry about, like asteroids on possible collision courses with our home planet, to get our bloomers in a wad about a tiny planet several billion miles out there we may never visit.
The universe is unfolding as it should. Let it be.
G.T. Tyson
Greenville NC
252-756-1805