On Pluto

[bktheirregular]

The question of whether Pluto qualifies as a planet or not seems, to me, to be mostly an argument over book-keeping. I can't see what's supposed to change, except for which drawer the astronomers are supposed to drop the file labeled "Pluto" into. It's not going to change anything about the rock itself; the only real difference I can see is that maybe it'll be tougher to get budget funding if people want to send a probe out there.

Pluto's still gonna be out there, whatever its categorization is. So (he said, betraying his massive ignorance), why the kerfuffle?

Comments

[takaal.livejournal.com]

Honestly, I think it's a massive distraction ploy so no one remembers that one of the spacejocks slipped up and mentioned Starship Orion ahead of schedule...

... still need to draw my Mickey Mouse-kicking-Pluto-out-of-the-Planet-Club cartoon.

[bktheirregular]

Orion, as in the nuclear-bomb-powered spacecraft design? Didn't realize people were still thinking about that.