Monday, August 28, 2006
Astronomy Picture of the Day
The International Astronomical Assocication demoted Pluto to a Dwarf Planet. So, our soloar system has only eight planets now.
In truth, who really cares? The idea that A is a planet and B is not a planet is semantics. A is some object in the solar system and it has a mass, location, orbit, etc. B is some other object in the solar system with its own mass, location, orbit, etc. The fact that A is more massive than B is relevant to how we calculate its effects and parameters. There are still these objects in space, regardless of how anyone classifies them.
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One of the things our educational system is really bad at (in the category of "teaching" science") is to provide students with a FIRM understanding of the difference between "things as they are" and "things as we describe them to be". I suspect that there are quite a few students (along with quite a few teachers!) who, in the aftermath of "pluto's demotion") are genuinely puzzled, perhaps even a bit fearful, about the ramifications such a demotion will have on the solar system! I could not agree more with your comment about this nonsensical issue.
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