PONDERING PLUTO...your opinion, please!

Start a debate in your house! (I did, accidentally!) Should Pluto be given back its title as a planet in our solar system, or should it be called a dwarf planet? Or, should it be a plutoid? Or, is it something else entirely? The following article from www.sciencenewsforkids.org (http://www.sciencenewsforkids.org/articles/20081008/Feature1.asp) talks to later elementary school kids about the debate. It's a great way to get them to analyze the different arguments in order to make their own decision. My kid seems to have trouble picking out details lately. So, I just sent him upstairs to pick out details in the article that support his opinion. He came back with his own theory: That Pluto shouldn't be a planet at all because it sometimes passes in front of Neptune...therefore, it's really a moon! Interesting thought, but it just started another debate!

Personally, I'm having a lot of trouble with this one. The whole topic just breaks down another tenet of childhood. I mean it's not as simple as whether there are now 8 or 9 planets in our solar system...oh, no! If we count dwarf planets, there could be 12...or sixteen! Actually, newer, higher-powered telescopes open the possibility and debates to more objects. So, for me, I'm just wrestling with the knowledge that "nine planets in our solar system" has gone the way of the record player, VHS, the "Dorothy Hamill" haircut, the "Jennifer Aniston" haircut, Roy Rogers restaurants, and "kabangers."

Next thing you know, Starbucks will go from "tall, grande, and venti" to "wow!, whoa!, and cowabunga!" (Which, technically might not be such a bad idea since I keep getting the first two sizes mixed up, anyway.)

Let me know your family's opinion on the Pluto debate. As well, let's find a good name for the nameless dwarf planet that comes two celestial bodies after Pluto (it's currently known as 2003 UB313). My son offers, "Grogon." What's your kids' suggestion?