What!!! Pluto not a planet...

(Published on 19 September 2006 in 'Women at Work' - W @ W - a supplement of the Daily Mirror, Colombo, Sri Lanka)

Ever since I can remember… (and my Geography teacher, Miss Breganza was a great lady – who would tell me no lie) Pluto has been known as the ninth planet of our solar system since it was discovered by Clyde Tombaugh in 1930. The new announcement informing the world that Pluto does not fit in with the pattern of the other planets is being unkind to all the Geography teachers down the years. What teachers said in class was law – and one never ever thought of challenging what they said or taught.

Since 1992 small objects, made of rock and ice up to a few hundred kilometres in size, have been found orbiting at a great distance from the Sun. These are called Trans Neptunian Objects (TNOs). The information gathered on Pluto and the discovery of TNOs in the outer solar system with orbital characteristics very similar to those of Pluto, have led to this new deduction. The argument is that Pluto is so small and out of place in its distant orbit around the Sun that it cannot be classified as a proper planet. As a result, Pluto will now have the rare distinction of having dual classification as a planet and a TNO, at least for the time being. This dual classification for Pluto is a result of its remarkable nature.

The group who will decide the official status of Pluto for the professional astronomers is the International Astronomical Union. They will be informing the world of their decision shortly. The definition of a planet is rather arbitrary. Planets need a better definition rather than being known as an object that our ancestors saw moving in the sky. Until there is clarity and a consensus regarding the definition it is not right to either 'demote' Pluto or 'promote' Ceres. Since the discovery of the minor planet Ceres in 1801 astronomers have found thousands of minor planets orbiting the Sun, mainly between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter. Members of the IAU have been expressing their opinions on Pluto's status. There have been several votes with no clear-cut conclusion. Whatever the result it seems clear that Pluto is a special type of celestial object, which may well deserve a special status.

Well that temporarily puts to rest my belief in my Geography teacher who painstakingly taught us, seven year olds, the names of the nine planets with the help of a model. Miss Breganza – if you are reading this - I still believe that you were right and nothing will ever change that. Today even if the universe changes its views – I shall always remember what you taught me in Grade II. What rings in my mind is what Bertrand Russell has said “More important than the curriculum is the question of the methods of teaching and the spirit in which the teaching is given.”

Miss Know-All
wow@dailymirror.wnl.lk