Comments on: Ice, Ice Baby

By: Elle

Elle — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 20:12:38 +0000

http://theawesomer.com/photos/2009/08/080209_pluto_1.jpg

By: coolstar

coolstar — Sun, 02 Aug 2009 03:15:50 +0000

@ntsc : you jest, surely? Clyde Tombaugh was 10 years old when uncle Percy died. For you non-southwestern U.S. folks: Lowell Observatory on Mars Hill in Flagstaff, AZ is a great place to visit on the way to/from the south rim of the Grand Canyon. You can see the Pluto camera and the original great refractor, and observe with the refractor on some nights. Very nice visitor’s center also. Most of the working telescopes have been above Lake Mary on Anderson Mesa for decades now and the new Discovery Channel Telescope (4 meter class) is being built further out of town near Happy Jack.

By: David Carroll

David Carroll — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 19:06:55 +0000

I oppose all attempts to recategorize Pluto as an “emulsified high-fat offal planet” and suggest instead calling such an object a “British planet”.

By: Aoede

Aoede — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 20:10:00 +0000

@Alan Kellogg:

You are being flippant, yes?

By: Doug

Doug — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 17:48:54 +0000

I have a young son with Asperger’s Syndrome who loves books on astronomy–the more technical details the better. At first he took Pluto’s demotion very hard, as he is quite attached to routine and reliable facts.

But he seems to have decided that having multiple dwarf planets just gives him more solar objects to name and memorize, which has restored his sense of happiness. I’ve tried to use the situation as a teaching example for the scientific method and how new data or theories can change the scientific perspective on the world. Not sure how well that has taken.

For my part, as a young boy I met Clyde Tombaugh at New Mexico State University and thought he was a nice old man who had done something incredibly cool. So I still have a sentimental attachment to Pluto that defies science.

By: John Murphy

John Murphy — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 17:26:58 +0000

@Alan Kellogg, #70

Well, I’ll be. My primary school education fails me again. s/panda/koala/, then.

By: Alan Kellogg

Alan Kellogg — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 17:05:57 +0000

eviljwinter, #36

Ever consider the possibility Scott Westerfield has Celiac Disease?

John Murphy, #64

Greater pandas are bears. The lesser panda is a raccoon, and hardly qualifies even as an honorary bear.

By: J Reynolds

J Reynolds — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 20:24:54 +0000

I saw an entertaining XKCD cartoon on this very subject. Some people's feelings are still raw.

By: leonsp

leonsp — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 16:55:01 +0000

@Tumbleweed: Actually, Earth is a lot like Venus. They have roughly the same diameter, gravity, and composition.

By: hugh57

hugh57 — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 16:08:21 +0000

@65: My favorite is from Stephen Colbert:

“My Very Educated Mother Just Said: Uh-oh! No Pluto!”