Next week there may be a new scientific definition for the word planet which would presently add three more bodies to our planetary system...ceres, charon, and 2003-UB313. It would also make it likely that many more would be added in the future.
On August 10th, before the definition was officially released, NPR covered this issue, and it's certainly worth a listen, although I must say that Dava Sobel's quote struck me as being rather silly.
"People love Pluto, children identify with its smallness," she writes. "Adults relate to its inadequacy, its marginal existence as a misfit." Sobel has several solar system models in her house. Asked if she had torn Pluto off any of them, she said "No, Pluto is definitely there."Not being a scientist, I don't have an opinion one way another about whether this particular definition is a good one, but I do have to ask how a child's love of Pluto relates to science?
