What the Hell is Pluto? A Planet, Dwarf Planet, or a Plutoid?

June 19th, 2008

Teachers, and book publishers are struggling to keep up with the class that is accepted as the class for Pluto. When originally discovered, Pluto was considered out 9th, much smaller than the rest, but still our 9th planet.

A couple years ago it was re-classified as what they call a Dwarf Planet. Last week, the International Astronomical Union (IAU) announced Pluto should now be called a “plutoid,” two years after the organization voted to demote Pluto to “dwarf planet” status.

Space.com has some quotes from kids that are unsure what to callit, but most tend to still call it a “planet”.

“I think it’s a planet. But me and my friends, we talk about it sometimes and we go back and forth,” said Natalie Browning, 9, sitting in a park in Manhattan with her family. “Right now, I’m not 100 percent. I’m just 75 percent” sure that Pluto is a planet.

Natalie’s mom, Bobbie Browning, said, “You’ve got kids with textbooks saying that Pluto is part of the solar system and a planet, and teachers have to say it isn’t [a planet].”

That kid is only 9 by the way. If only high school kids were that advanced in this country. These kids carry around micro sd storage devices around their necks instead of the old house key that kids did 10 years ago. Guess you can’t call them latch-key kids anymore…not sure what though…lol

Science teachers and publishers already worked to update their resources to read “dwarf planet.” And now, boom, that category is out of favor among astronomers.

“Students who have just learned about the concept of dwarf planets must now be taught the new concept of plutoid,” said Janis Milman, who teaches earth science at Thomas Stone High School in Maryland. “This will lead to confusion in the classroom and resistance to learning the new terms, because the students will question, why learn something that might change again in a year or so?”

So…call it whatever the hell you want I guess. It seems that astronomers are now politicians, and that every couple of years they try to make a name for themselves by re-classifying something that really doesn’t even matter. Some teachers probably aren’t even aware of the change because if you don’t go to a well-funded school the likelihood that you even got books updated with the “dwarf planet” status are pretty slim. It isn’t like all our schools are up to date with their texts. Many schools have texts that are years behind.