tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8981188593572055787.post6074850697016339400..comments2024-02-20T03:16:13.598-05:00Comments on Today in Astronomy: March 13: Percival LowellLunar Markhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05748030951536447210noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8981188593572055787.post-72259745219730109072009-03-13T21:25:00.000-04:002009-03-13T21:25:00.000-04:00Ah, the Pluto Girl found me!If you hadn't left a c...Ah, the Pluto Girl found me!<BR/>If you hadn't left a comment I was going to put a link on your FB wall.Lunar Markhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05748030951536447210noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8981188593572055787.post-61652868058810527532009-03-13T13:48:00.000-04:002009-03-13T13:48:00.000-04:00The controversial reclassification of Pluto was do...The controversial reclassification of Pluto was done by only four percent of the IAU, most of whom are not planetary scientists, and was immediately rejected by hundreds of professional astronomers led by Dr. Alan Stern, Principal Investigator of NASA's New Horizons mission to Pluto. One of the reasons the reclassification makes no sense is that it states that dwarf planets are not planets at all, which runs counter to the use of the term "dwarf" in astronomy, where dwarf stars are still stars, and dwarf galaxies are still galaxies. For this reason, the IAU vote should be reported not as fact but as one interpretation, alongside a note that it is not accepted by many professional astronomers, some of whom are either working to overturn the demotion or are ignoring it altogether.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com