Planets have feelings too

Which is why I feel kinda sorry for ole Pluto here:

PRAGUE, Czech Republic (AP) — Leading
astronomers declared Thursday that Pluto is no longer a planet under
historic new guidelines that downsize the solar system from nine
planets to eight.

After a tumultuous week of clashing over

the essence of the cosmos, the International Astronomical Union

stripped Pluto of the planetary status it has held since its discovery

in 1930. The new definition of what is — and isn’t — a planet fills a

centuries-old black hole for scientists who have labored since

Copernicus without one.

Although astronomers applauded after the

vote, Jocelyn Bell Burnell — a specialist in neutron stars from

Northern Ireland who oversaw the proceedings — urged those who might

be “quite disappointed” to look on the bright side.

“It could be

argued that we are creating an umbrella called ‘planet’ under which the

dwarf planets exist,” she said, drawing laughter by waving a stuffed

Pluto of Walt Disney fame beneath a real umbrella.

Planetary identity crises. I love it.