Pluto Not A Planet Debate Rages On

Seems like people, like myself who are set in their ways, cannot adjust to demoting Pluto from being the ninth planet in our solar system…. Here is a variety of viewpoints:

Pluto is no longer a planet, according to a new official definition. Instead the icy sphere will be considered one of more than 40 “dwarf planets.”  http://www.news.nationalgeographic.com

Why is Pluto Not a Planet? The story of how Pluto lost its status as a planet. Pluto is no longer a planet, according to a new official definition. Instead the icy sphere will be considered one of more than…. http://www.universetoday.com

Space.com: Astronomers approve new guidelines under which distant Pluto is no longer defined as a planet — but the icy world’s advocates …   www.msnbc.msn.com

Pluto is still a planet. Only four percent of the IAU voted on the controversial demotion, and most are not planetary scientists. Their decision was immediately opposed in a formal petition by hundreds of professional astronomers led by Dr. Alan Stern, Principal Investigator of NASA’s New Horizons mission to Pluto. One reason the IAU definition makes no sense is it says dwarf planets are not planets at all! That is like saying a grizzly bear is not a bear, and it is inconsistent with the use of the term “dwarf” in astronomy, where dwarf stars are still stars, and dwarf galaxies are still galaxies. Also, the IAU definition classifies objects solely by where they are while ignoring what they are. If Earth were in Pluto’s orbit, according to the IAU definition, it would not be a planet either. A definition that takes the same object and makes it a planet in one location and not a planet in another is essentially useless. Pluto is a planet because it is spherical, meaning it is large enough to be pulled into a round shape by its own gravity–a state known as hydrostatic equilibrium and characteristic of planets, not of shapeless asteroids held together by chemical bonds. These reasons are why many astronomers, lay people, and educators are either ignoring the demotion entirely or working to get it overturned. I am a writer and amateur astronomer and proud to be one of these people. You can read more about why Pluto is a planet and worldwide efforts to overturn the demotion on my Pluto Blog at http://laurele.livejournal.com ~Laurel Kornfeld

PLUTO is not a planet,but its far better to be a Dwarf PLANET,and there are hundreds of Dwarf PLANETS in the solar system which does not resemble PLANETS. www.conradaskland.com/blog

Suddenly Pluto has been demoted from being a true planet to being a dwarf planet. Discover why the solar system just got smaller, how Pluto differs from the…  www.school.discoveryeducation.com

Pluto Demoted! Not a planet anymore?  by Chris Frantz … A dwarf planet does not meet the third condition of a planet, but it must meet a… www.infoplease.com/spot/pluto-demoted.html

Pluto the planet is dead. The baby in the solar system’s familiar nine-planet pantheon, … It did not settle on an official name for the category… www.washingtonpost.com

Pluto’s Not a Planet. It’s My Home. Welcome to eightSeven music dot com … not enough stones so i gotta stay rollin. www.eightsevenmusic.com

Pluto not a planet? WTF? I’m sorry but I’ve said this before, God made 9 planets. I heard that somewhere so its true.  www.blog.kexp.org/blog

If Pluto’s Not a Planet, Is Ketchup a Vegetable, a Fetus a Person, or Same-Sex Marriage an Oxymoron? www.writ.news.findlaw.com

As most people probably know by now, pluto is no longer a planet. I find this funny, and I actually made a t-shirt that says “PLUTO’S NOT A PLANET!” www.scratch.mit.edu/projects/KoalaBear/5197

A planet has to dominate the neighborhood around its orbit. Pluto has been demoted because it does not dominate its neighborhood… http://www.chacha.com/question/why-is-pluto-not-a-planet-anymore

“Pluto is not a planet” – well, the good people of Aschheim – a little place just outside Munich – may have known it all along. …  www.toytowngermany.com

Pluto not a planet? Oh, you mean like Rhode Island’s not a state… Pluto is not a planet. The asteroids are not planets and the hundred of thousands Pluto-like bodies that swim in the region just outside the…  www.kairosnews.org/pluto-not-a-planet-oh-you-mean-like-rhode-islands-not-a-state

Why I’m glad Pluto’s not a planet… This is a thoroughly stale topic, but it manages to come up again and again. www.mengbomin.wordpress.com/…/why-im-glad-plutos-not-a-planet

I think it is a horribly bad idea for Pluto not being a planet. I so totally think it is a dumb idea that Pluto is not a planet. The scientist people that… www.blogwaffe.com/2006/08/24/417

Pluto Not a Planet, Astronomers Rule -by Mason Inman. Pluto has been voted off the island. The distant, ice-covered world is no longer a true planet, according to a new definition of the term voted on by scientists today. “Whoa! Pluto’s dead,” said astronomer Mike Brown, of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, as he watched a Webcast of the vote. “There are finally, officially, eight planets in the solar system.” In a move that’s already generating controversy and will force textbooks to be rewritten, Pluto will now be dubbed a dwarf planet. But it’s no longer part of an exclusive club, since there are more than 40 of these dwarfs, including the large asteroid Ceres and 2003 UB313, nicknamed Xena–a distant object slightly larger than Pluto discovered by Brown last year. www.pdfoxy.com/16610-pluto-not-a-planet-astronomers-rule-pdf.html

Pluto, a planet since 1930, got the boot because it didn’t meet the new rules, which say a planet not only must orbit the sun and be large… www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,210275,00.html

SciGuy: Pluto’s fate has been decided — NOT A PLANET.  Oh my, Pluto is not a planet. Please join me in opposition to discrimination against Pluto. I have set up an organization… www.blogs.chron.com/sciguy

Pluto: The Planet That Used to Be. Pluto is not only the smallest planet in the solar system, but it’s smaller than seven of the moons in the solar system (Earth’s moon; Jupiter’s Io, Europa,… www.wired.com/science

So Pluto’s not a planet. It’s an iceball. Deal. www.scottwesterfeld.com/blog

Alien Life Forms Exist In Outer Space

I am not a trained astronomist but I do have a passing interest in the science. This is purely my own theory on why I believe alien life forms exist in outer space.

I believe that life exists on Earth only because of the exact distance we are away from the Sun which makes our ongoing life cycle possible.

Since our Sun is a star, and there are millions of stars in the universe, chances are some of them must also have planets revolving around them.

And, because of this probability, some of those planets might be similarly distanced away from their Sun like we are to ours.

So water, as well as life itself, might possibly exist on those planets. Which means remote evolution is likely.

For this reason,  I truly believe that alien life forms do exist in outer space.