The Demotion of Pluto from Planetary Status
“Pluto has been voted off the island” (Inman). In August of 2006 the celestial body was officially retitled a dwarf planet. The media’s portrayal of the demotion of Pluto began in 2006 and covered a broad variety of topics including the official ruling in Prague, the public’s reception of the decision, a book written by a scientist claiming sole responsibility for the demotion, and finally NASA’s most recent statement in 2012 regarding the dwarf planet. Media interest in Pluto’s demotion spiked twice, first in 2006 when Pluto was demoted to dwarf planet status with both supporters and detractors displayed in the media; in the following years interest waned significantly until the second spike arose in 2010 when Mike Brown published his book. In the 2010 the media presented to the public was strictly supporters. “Throw away the placemats. Grab a magic marker for the classroom charts. Take a pair of scissors to the solar system mobile…Pluto got its walking papers” (Overbye).
The ninth planet Pluto lost its planetary status when it did not “make the cut” after The International Astronomical Union collaborated in Prague to finalize the definition of the word planet. The International Astronomical Union decided that there are eight planetary bodies in Earth’s solar system and that Pluto should be categorized as a dwarf planet. Online newspaper articles from 2006, the year The International Astronomical Union met in Prague, up until 2012 emphasize how the demotion of Pluto was presented to the general public. The articles covered within this six year span emphasize the more scientific aspect of the media’s portrayal of Pluto’s demotion. This timeline begins with the official demotion of ...
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...eral populous receives, the article “What is Pluto” places emphasis on the theory behind the decision and the new categorization of Pluto whilst other media outlets focus on scientists opinions of the change as well as how the change will sit with the general populous.
Originally discovered in 1930 by Clyde Tombaugh Pluto was deemed the ninth planet in the solar system, however in 2006 it was demoted to “dwarf planet” or plutoid status. As of late the public’s interest in the demotion of Pluto has waned significantly. The media’s interest of the demotion of Pluto spiked with the official ruling in Prague containing the public’s reception of the decision, and again when a book written by Mike Brown appeared in 2010. Originally controversy ensued with positive and negative views of the decision but as time went on only the positive view was present in the media.
In agreement with the media, a journal article in the magazine Science, published a mere two weeks after the success of Sputnik, explicitly questioned the current governmental approach to space saying, “The Soviet accomplishment has had a significant impact on both international and domestic affairs” and “there have already been demands in the press for a Congressional investigation of our missile program.” The United States was under pressure to come up with a formal governmental response, and Dwight Eisenhower and the Congress of the United States seemed to have found the
It was at first thought to be bigger than Pluto later it ended up being somewhat smaller than Pluto. Eris finishes one rotation around the Sun in 580 years. Eris is the reason why Pluto’s planetary status was changed to being a dwarf planet. The Kuiper Belt has a section called Classic Kuiper Belt. This is the busiest area of this belt and is situated at a distance of around 42 to 48 AU. In the beginning, when the solar system was created gas, dust and rocks, came together to form planets. Most of the debris was swept away by gravitational pull for those planets, but some debris survived because they were far enough away to not be affected by the gravitational pull for those planets. Finding the Kuiper Belt gave us more insight into the mystery of the objects located in the Kuiper belt. Most KBO’s are so far away that their measurements cannot be concretely calculated. By using the data collected by the Spitzer space Telescope most of the KBO’s have known sizes. In 2015 the New Horizon Spacecraft flew past Pluto for an up close exploration of the Kuiper Belt Objects. The primary real expectation of the Kuiper belt's presence, most planetary researchers now agree, originated from Uruguayan cosmologist Julio
Knowledge is everything, its what separates humans from animals. It allows us to question the world around us. Another key aspect that separates humans from animals is that each human is unique. We all have different beliefs and ideals that help us explain the infinite amount of questions that this universe has gifted us. In his lecture Christopher Viney goes over the many shifts in the origin of life and how each time there is a shift people start to adept to the new shift. So why are there times that people decide that one thing is right while not even looking at the other point of view?
A new moon was discovered for Uranus that had previously been overlooked for 13 years. As of 1999 this discovery brought the total of Uranus’s satellites to 18.
This is the Scholarly Journal Archive. 2. Letters Planet Pluto Gerard P. Kuiper Science, New Series, Vol. 124, No. 2 -. 3216. The. Aug. 17, 1956, p. 322.
During the period from 1985 through 1990, Earth was aligned with the orbit of Charon around Pluto such that an eclipse could be observed every Pluto day. This provided opportunity to collect significant data which led to albedo maps defining surface reflectivity, and to the first accurate determination of the sizes of Pluto and Charon, including all the numbers that could be calculated therefrom.
'A discovery so unexpected could only have singular circumstances, for it was not due to an astronomer and the marvelous telescope…was not the work of an optician; it is Mr. Herschel, a [German] musician, to whom we owe the knowledge of this seventh principal planet.' (Hunt, 35)
In 1609, Galileo Galilei, using “spyglass” which allowed one to see things closer than they appeared, made an early version of the telescope. With it, he observed the skies in a way no one had before. He discovered the moon isn’t perfectly globular, it has craters, the Sun has sunspots, Venus orbits the Sun (contrary to widespread belief in his time), and then he observed four “stars” around Jupiter (“Our Solar System”). Within days, he realized that these objects were not stars, they were moons. Io, Ganymede, Castillo, and Europa are known as the Galilean Moons or Satellites, collectively. During the 19th century, the first measurable physical studies of these moons became achievable when Simon de Laplace derived the satellite masses from their shared gravitational perturbations and afterward, other workers used a new generation of telescopes to measure the mass of these moons. The data collected showed that the density declined from the inner to the outer satellites. According to Adam Showman, “More recent observations of water ice on the surfaces of the outer three moons led to the inference that the satellite compositions range from mostly silicate rock at Io to 60% silicate rock and 40% volatile ices (by mass) at Ganymede and Callisto” ( 77). The Voyager flybys of Jupiter in 1979 exposed indication of extensive geological activity like Europa's fractured terrains, which probably result from tidal heating and bending...
When I was a child, I vividly remembered an anime series called Sailor Moon. The plot revolved around nine superheroes who were named after the nine planets of the solar system. As a child, I could recall the theme song of the series, which begins with “She is the one named Sailor, Sailor Venus, Sailor Mercury, Sailor Mars, Sailor Jupiter,...She is the one named Sailor Moon.” One day, my sister came up to me and told me that Pluto was no longer a planet. When she told me I could not believe my ears, they took out Pluto from the solar system. Recalling the moment that Pluto was removed as planet, I questioned what criteria decided the removal of it from the solar system. At the same time, these changes are made by scientists who believe it does
Everyone knows of the planet Pluto, it was the only American discovered planet, Mickey Mouse’s dog’s name; it is the most popular planet in America. But the man who was in charge of the research to declare Pluto out of the planet category is Neil deGrasse Tyson. Tyson has gained a lot of publicity from this, his other tv shows, radio shows and social media; leading to high pop culture status as a scientist. Neil deGrasse Tyson has positively influenced the world through this books, scientific findings and being a highly respected scientist. He also has a pop culture presence through his tweets and tv shows, where his main goal is not to entertain, but to educate and enlighten people about astrophysics.
Siddiqi, Asif A. "Korolev, Sputnik, and The International Geophysical Year." 1997. NASA. Accessed 2 Apr. 2003. [URL]
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This is probably the greatest discovery imaginable; however, the universe still seems to be a very controversial subject.