For many adults and children, they learned a specific
acronym. One such example is ‘My Very Energetic Mother Just Served Us Nine
Pizzas’, where the beginning of each word shares a letter with a planet.
However, this learning tool has become defunct in today’s classrooms. What
happened? Well, one planet was categorized into another designation. Pluto was
discovered in the 1940s and was instantly hailed as the ninth planet. As
scientific tools and knowledge of our solar system advanced, so did our
knowledge of the icy, distant rock. For example, it’s orbit is tilted in
comparison to the orbital plane of the other planets. Furthermore, it was not
alone, with dozens of other trans-Neptunian objects being discovered further
beyond. With all of these discoveries lining up, Pluto was decidedly booted
from its official planetary status. Don’t feel too bad, though. Ceres, The
Moon, and even the Sun have all gained and lost planetary status themselves. So
appreciate your favorite planet while it lasts, because soon it may be a planet
no more.
I didn't know that the Sun once held planetary status, and I will admit that I am a little bitter about the loss of Pluto from my acronym. If my favorite planet is Earth, should I worry that we will lose our planetary status? We may have strayed from the idea that the galaxy revolves around us, but we definitely don't act like it. Even if a major scientific breakthrough revealed that we are not, in fact, a planet, we might just change the definition of what being a planet really means. Justice for Pluto!
ReplyDelete