Many Are Still Passionate About Pluto

Talk about being out of touch. It seems there is a growing disconnect between astronomers who support the IAU's flawed planet definition that demoted Pluto and large segments of the public who are passionate about astronomy.

In an article published by the Canwest News Service, which can be found at http://www.canada.com/topics/news/story.html?id=61d118c4-9eed-4896-8c7b-b75ee20b8a16 , astronomer Ethan Tecumseh Vishniac, an instructor at McMaster University and editor of the Astrophysical Journal, states "Most astronomers, myself included, are a little flabbergasted at the level of intensity that people have brought to this question."

The writer of the article continues, "Astronomers are flabbergasted that people care so deeply about Pluto.Yet the 'Pluto-huggers' remain active, from experts writing in fancy science journals to the ultimate cultural status - its own Facebook groups."

Astronomers are "flabbergasted" that people care so much about Pluto? Maybe they're not spending enough time paying attention to the concerns of the people whom they seek to educate. The IAU and other groups have designated 2009 the International Year of Astronomy to commemorate the 400th anniversary of Galileo's first telescopic observations. From all the literature on this event, whose theme is "The Universe: Yours to Discover," it seems quite clear the year's central focus will be an outreach effort to excite people of all ages about astronomy, something definitely worth doing.

But if professional astronomers are going to make the effort to reach out to the public, they need to connect with the public and both hear and value their concerns. Most people's first introduction to astronomy is through learning about our solar system and its planets. The planets are arguably the most accessible area of astronomy, with many visible to the naked eye and observable in detail with telescopes. These exotic worlds are in many ways more concrete and real to the average person than other, more abstract areas of astronomy such as black holes, variable stars, cosmology and topics requiring more extensive technical background knowledge.

With so many planetary missions having been launched in the last few decades, we have more knowledge about our solar system's planets than about almost any other area of astronomy.

How many amateur astronomers, astronomy enthusiasts, and young people became hooked on astronomy when they first saw Saturn and its rings through a telescope? Professionals seeking to create a new wave of excitement about the field next year need to understand the mindset of the people they are trying to reach and connect with that mindset rather than denigrate it or express bewilderment without trying to see just where these people are coming from.

People enjoy hearing and reading about the discovery of new planets, about new "family members" joining our solar system. They are alienated when, for vague seemingly obscure reasons, astronomers "take planets away," especially when nothing has happened "out there" to change those planets. It isn't surprising that many people feel passionate about Pluto, the smallest and furthest planet, the only one discovered by an American and one replete with symbolism and many layers of meaning. Astronomers should not be surprised that so many people have reacted to the "removal" of Pluto from the planetary family by seeing it as an attack on the underdog, perpetrated by an out of touch elite in a backroom deal with little science behind it.

Astronomer and blogger Paul Smith reacted to one of my comments on Fraser Cain's Universe Today blog by stating, "why anybody would be passionate about how we catalogue solar system objects - I have no idea." Here again, we see the disconnect between the professionals who seem to want to keep astronomy as "their" domain and public sentiment, which tends to run two to one in favor of Pluto's planetary status.

Obviously, members of the public as well as artists and writers, as I have discussed in earlier posts, are in fact passionate about Pluto's planetary status. Why they are doesn't really matter as much as the fact that they are. Professional astronomers need to remember that they need public support for funding from both government and private sources such as The Planetary Society. And they need public support if they are to be successful in turning on a whole new group of people to astronomy. That won't happen if they continue to fail so completely to understand, accept and respect where public sentiment lies.

Of course, there is nothing wrong if in outreach, the astronomy community continues to portray this issue as an open debate. Why the IAU felt a need to come to a decision quickly in 2006 is hard to understand. We are making new discoveries all the time and finding out that the universe is far more diverse than almost anyone could have imagined. Is it that difficult to conceive of a spectrum of planets ranging from tiny ice dwarfs to huge brown dwarfs rather than an either/or situation where an object either is a planet or is not?

What is so terrible about teaching children and adults that the debate is still open, that we do not yet have sufficient information to definitively resolve the issue of Pluto's status one way or another? What is wrong with explaining that it is not the facts but how we interpret the facts that lead to one or the other conclusions? Why not raise public excitement by informing people that in 2015, we will have the Dawn spacecraft reach Ceres and New Horizons reach Pluto, at which time we will learn more about both those objects than we have ever known, perhaps enough to better inform how we classify them?

Meanwhile, the music and works of art honoring Pluto keep on coming, with the latest being "Ode to Pluto," which can be found at http://www.lorenz.com/Results.aspx?srch=quick&cid=pluto&c=pluto&pg=1&rpp=30

Whether the professionals like it or not, the public does care about Pluto and its planetary status. If the IAU and other like-minded groups want 2009 to be the year in which people feel the universe is "theirs to discover," they will take these sentiments into account and, rather than express incredulity, will embrace them as an opening to engage the public in this fascinating field.

Correction on Pluto Petition

In yesterday's entry on the Great Pluto Planet Debate conference, I mentioned a hard copy petition to the IAU along with a link to it in my Yahoo group. It has since been brought to my attention that this link is inaccessible to anyone who is not a member of the group. This is Yahoo's rule, not mine. The group is a newsletter about events in Highland Park, NJ, not a Pluto group. So here are two options for getting a copy of the petition, which is a Word document. Either join the group at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/friends-of-laurel and then click on Files and under Files, click on "Pluto Petition." You can download it and then, if you so choose, unsubscribe from the group. The other way is simply to email me at laurelkornfeld@netzero.net and I will send you a copy of the petition as an attachment. I don't think LiveJournal has a feature allowing the posting of Word documents, but if it does and you are aware of this, please let me know, as I would be happy to post the document on my home page.

I apologize for the inconvenience and hope this does not deter anyone interested in signing the petition or collecting signatures. Pluto needs our support!

The Great Planet Debate--A Stellar Idea Whose Time Has Come

It’s happening at last! The conference aimed at addressing the planet definition issue, announced by Dr. Alan Stern immediately following the IAU’s controversial demotion of Pluto nearly 20 months ago, has been scheduled for August 14-16, 2008, at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, MD (on a personal note, I can’t help but be amused at the name of the city chosen for the conference).

Co-sponsored by NASA, the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, the Planetary Science Institute, the Planetary Society, and the American Astronautical Society, it is open to all interested members of the public and especially geared towards educators.

The conference title is “The Great Planet Debate: Science As Progress.”

While the initial idea of the conference was Stern’s, it is Dr. Mark Sykes, another leading proponent of Pluto’s planetary status, who is serving as event chair.

Days one and two will feature a discussion of both the IAU planet definition, based on dynamics, and an alternative geophysical definition. This portion will include a lecture and panel discussion and will be followed by a reception.

On the third day, an Educator Workshop will address the issue of dealing with the planet debate in schools and how to use it as a springboard to discuss science as a process.

The conference will feature a public debate--Neil deGrasse Tyson vs. Mark Sykes.

Information about the conference, including a registration form, schedule, and conference information, can be found at http://gpd.jhuapl.edu/

In an April 10 article, Scientific American makes note of the conference in an article titled “Is Rekindling the Pluto Planet Debate a Good Idea?”

A subtitle to the article quotes conference critics labeling the event “beating a dead planet.”

Naturally, proponents of the IAU decision want this to stay a closed subject. After all, if the debate is re-opened, the very shaky planet definition adopted by four percent of the IAU has very little real science on which to stand. When people think they have won a debate, the last thing they want to see is that debate re-opened.

But one cannot re-open something that has never truly been closed. And most certainly, the debate over Pluto’s planetary status has remained very much open over the last year and a half, beginning with Stern’s petition of 300 plus professional astronomers who signed within days of the demotion saying they will not use the IAU’s definition.

The objections by those who support the IAU decision, described in the article as “irking” some researchers, are worth examining exactly because, unintentionally of course, they reinforce the major problems with the decision.

Dr. Harold Levison, a planetary scientist at the Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colorado who agrees with the IAU decision, claims that fighting the decision does more harm than good to researchers’ reputations while in the same paragraph admitting he would have rather seen a more encompassing planet definition that divides planets into two subcategories, major and minor.

This appears to indicate he supports a definition with which he himself is not entirely comfortable. Why support something he recognizes as flawed instead of pushing for his superior definition? Sticking with a problematic definition is more likely to hurt researchers’ reputations than is keeping the issue open and standing up for an outcome he knows is better.

Levison also claims that Pluto’s orbital eccentricity somehow makes it stand out as less than a planet. Just how does that work? Mercury’s orbit is also somewhat eccentric, and Eris’ orbit is so eccentric it makes Pluto’s look ordinary. Why should having an eccentric orbit disqualify an object from being a planet? Many of the exo-planets we have discovered have very eccentric orbits. Does that make them not planets? More likely, the eccentric orbit of round objects in the Kuiper Belt simply makes them a new subcategory of planets, the ice dwarfs, still planets but with their own unique characteristics.

If there are dozens more objects in the Kuiper Belt that have achieved hydrostatic equilibrium and fit this decision, then there are dozens more of this subcategory of planets. It’s that simple.

Researcher and author Jack Lissauer, co-author of the textbook Planetary Sciences, is quoted in the article as recognizing the problematic nature of the IAU “dwarf planet” classification, claiming that if a Mercury-sized object were discovered in the Kuiper Belt, it likely would be considered a planet even though it doesn’t clear its orbital zone.

Now wait just a minute here. According to the IAU definition, even a Jupiter-sized object would not be a planet if it does not clear its orbit. So how and why could this Mercury-sized object qualify? That would imply that size rather than clearing its orbit is the criteria for planethood. Who decides, and based on what criteria?

It is through scenarios like this one that we can see just how flawed and untenable the IAU definition is.

Even more laughable are the “polls” cited by Professor Ed Prather of the Steward Observatory at the University of Arizona in Tucson, who teaches Astronomy 101 to non-science majors.

A supporter of the demotion, Prather says he regularly polls his students about the issue, and 70 percent respond saying there is no reason to classify Pluto as a planet, that it is simply a rock sitting “way out there.”

Have Prather’s students had the opportunity to hear both sides of the debate, or more likely, is the majority of this group of people who likely had no prior exposure to astronomy simply parroting the biased view their professor has pounded into their heads all semester long? One has to wonder.

It turns out Prather doesn’t like the idea of educators or members of the public taking part in decision making on scientific issues. Once the public perceives scientists making decisions based on “personal feelings and historical convention…we’ve dropped the ball.”

Sorry, professor, but an international organization of scientists that cannot enact electronic voting and rushes through controversial decisions without sufficient debate with only four percent of its membership having a say has already “dropped the ball.”

As for the textbook publishers cited, they would do well to present the issue as an ongoing debate rather than rush to print new editions excluding Pluto from the cannon of planets. The issue is unresolved. Changing textbooks now is like the line from Kenny Rogers’ song “The Gambler” about counting the money when you’re still sitting at the table. If textbook companies insist on doing this, they likely will be caught up in an endless cycle of printings and re-printings each time a new decision is reached. Besides, what is wrong with portraying an issue as not having one clear answer?

Sykes is correct in his characterization of the IAU decision as “providing no insight” into the nature of celestial objects because it does not take into consideration the composition of those objects.

Like Stern and many other planetary scientists, he believes that an object that has achieved hydrostatic equilibrium, meaning it has sufficient gravity to have pulled itself into a round shape, should be considered a planet.

These objects all have geological processes such as volcanism, erosion, and plate tectonics, all of which clearly distinguish them from the asteroids with which the IAU assigns them the same category.

In summary, the Pluto planet debate is alive and well and will likely remain so for quite some time. Nothing can sufficiently prepare us for the voluminous amount of information we will obtain on the Pluto system when New Horizons photographs it in 2015, information that is sure to one way or another change our view of this enigmatic planet. At least until then, the debate must remain open.

For anyone interested, my March 9 radio interview on WNTI, 91.9 FM at New Jersey’s Centenary College, can be heard at http://www.publicbroadcasting.net/wnti/arts.artsmain?action=viewArticle&sid=9&id=1239341&pid=247
The recording is through the "Contours" program and occurs in the middle of the broadcast, about 17 and a half minutes in.

You can also find a hard copy petition to the IAU to download at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/friends-of-laurel/Files
Scroll down the list to “Pluto Petition.” An amateur astronomer friend of mine will be compiling these and sending them to the IAU in time for their 2009 General Assembly, so if you want to or have collected signatures, email me at laurelkornfeld@netzero.net and I will give you the address to which you can “snail mail” them. Hard copy petitions usually carry more weight than Internet petitions, so I encourage all Pluto supporters to take part in this.

I also want to personally encourage anyone interested in this issue to seriously consider attending the Great Planet Pluto Debate in August. Discussions and ideas presented during the conference could potentially be brought to light at the next IAU General Assembly in 2009. For this reason, those of us who support Pluto’s planet status should make every effort to attend and make our voices heard.

Sign up for the conference at http://gpd.jhuapl.edu/
I’m looking forward to seeing many fellow Pluto supporters there.

Support for Pluto Continues to Grow

Eighteen months have passed since the IAU's controversial demotion of Pluto, and it is fascinating to see how the passage of time has not diminished public support for Pluto's reinstatement as a full-fledged planet. If anything, public opposition to the demotion and conviction favoring Pluto's planet status have been growing stronger over the last year and a half.

National Geographic just recognized a fourth grader for creating an eleven-planet mnemonic that includes Ceres, Pluto, and Eris. They plan to publish a new book with updated information on the eleven planets. Notice the reference to eleven planets and the inclusion of "dwarf planets" within the broader planet category. That is what those of us opposed to the IAU decision have been advocating for a year and a half.

I want to give special thanks to New Mexico columnist Jay Miller for his ongoing support of Pluto in his writings, which are published in 15 newspapers in that state. New Mexico is where Clyde Tombaugh, Pluto's discoverer, worked for 50 years, among other things, as a professor of astronomy at New Mexico State University in Las Cruces. Miller's latest column can be found at http://insidethecapitol.blogspot.com/2008/03/pluto-column-revision.html

Those of you who want to show your support for Pluto through wearing Pluto-themed clothing can purchase T-shirts and sweatshirts at http://www.savepluto.com/ A portion of the proceeds from the sale of items on this site will go towards lobbying efforts for Pluto's reinstatement by the IAU.

This Sunday, March 9, I will be interviewed on WNTI 91.9 FM, Centenary College radio station, at 7:30 AM by Science Editor Karl Hricko, on the subject of Pluto. The broadcast can be heard in the southern New Jersey area. It may also be podcast, so you can watch for it at http://www.wnti.org/ While you're at the web site, also check out a podcast of an interview with a friend of mine, Dr. Ken Kremer, NASA Solar System Ambassador, who discussed NASA's Dawn mission to Ceres and Vesta in an interview with Karl Hricko this past Sunday, March 2.

If you want to sign or circulate the petition Dr. Kremer is sending to the IAU asking them to reinstate Pluto as a planet at their next General Assembly in 2009, please email me at laurelkornfeld@netzero.net . I will be happy to email you a copy of the petition, which simply reads "I believe Pluto is a planet, and a better definition is needed." If you want to circulate the petition for signatures, I will provide you with contact information so you can snail mail the completed petitions back to me.

From me, they will go to Dr. Kremer, who will send them to the IAU. Dr. Alan Stern, Principal Investigator of NASA's New Horizons mission to Pluto and strong Pluto supporter, is aware of and supportive of this effort. The petitions will be sent to IAU member Brother Guy Consolmagno.

It's only another year and a half until the IAU's next General Assembly in 2009. We have the power to get this unjust demotion reversed, so let's do it!

Lobby Congress for Pluto

Today is the 78th anniversary of the discovery of Pluto by Clyde Tombaugh, on February 18, 1930, at the Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona. To commemorate this day, I urge all who support reinstating Pluto's planet status to contact your senators and representatives in support of a measure advocating such, recently introduced in Congress.

Thanks to the efforts of Siobhan Elias of Streator, Illinois, birthplace of Clyde Tombaugh, Illinois Representative Jerry Weller on December 19, 2007 introduced a resolution into the Congressional Record supporting the reinstatement of Pluto as the ninth planet in our solar system.

The text of the Weller's statement is as follows:

"Speaker: Representative Janice D. 'Jan' Schakowsky (IL)
Title: Support for Recognition of Pluto as a Planet
Date: 12/19/2007
Location: Washington, DC
Speech

SUPPORT FOR RECOGNITION OF PLUTO AS A PLANET -- (Extensions of Remarks -
December 19, 2007)
[Page: E2645] GPO's PDF

SPEECH OF
HON. JERRY WELLER
OF ILLINOIS
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 19, 2007

Mr. WELLER of Illinois. Madam Speaker, I rise today to express my support for the renewed recognition of Pluto as a planet.

The planet Pluto was discovered on January 23, 1930, by Clyde Tombaugh.
Although just 24 years of age with no formal education beyond high school, Mr. Tombaugh discovered this new planet by painstakingly and systematically examining and comparing photographic plates he had made of the night skies over New Mexico. For this achievement, Mr. Tombaugh received a prestigious award from the Royal Astronomical Society along with a scholarship to the University of Kansas, which allowed him to continue his formal education.

Clyde Tombaugh went on to make a large number of additional contributions to our knowledge of the universe and to receive many more awards and honors before his death on January 17, 1997. I am proud to note that Mr. Tombaugh was born on February 4, 1906, on a farm near Streator, IL, in LaSalle County--a community which I am privileged to represent in the Congress of the United States.

Unfortunately, on August 26, 2006, the International Astronomical Union, IAU, meeting in Prague and relying on the votes of only a handful of its approximately 10,000 members, made the decision to downgrade the status of Pluto.

This decision was met with protests from eminent scientists and astronomers all over the world. Perhaps foremost among those in the international scientific community strongly disagreeing with the IAU decision was Dr. S. Alan Stern. Named earlier this year by Time magazine as one of the ``One Hundred Most Influential People in the World,'' Dr. Stern is also one of the lead consultants for the New Horizons Mission.

The New Horizons Mission is an unmanned spacecraft launched in January of 2006, which is projected to reach Pluto and the outer edge of our solar system in the year 2015. This spacecraft is carrying some of the ashes of Clyde Tombaugh.

In closing, I urge my colleagues to express their support for the reversal of the International Astronomical Union's decision and the official reinstatement of Pluto as the ninth and outermost planet in our solar system."


A direct link to the text can be found at
http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getpage.cgi?dbname=2007_record&page=E2603&position=all

When you get to the site, enter in the page # E2645 in the space next to "go to page" at the bottom of the screen, then click the go to page button. The record is in the column on the right. The end of the record is on the next page, so you'll have to click, "next page" to finish reading it.

You can find contact information for your senators at the following link:
http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm

And you can find contact information for your representatives here:
https://forms.house.gov/wyr/welcome.shtml

A strong statement by both houses of Congress supporting Pluto's planet status may be largely symbolic, but it will send a clear message to the IAU and to the world that could influence the revisiting of this issue by the IAU at its next General Assembly next year. On this anniversary of Pluto's discovery, please take a few minutes to make your voice heard for our ninth planet, the only planet discovered by an American.

Also, for anyone interested, I would like to point out that a news article I wrote last year here in New Jersey on a talk about Pluto given by astronomer Guy Consolmagno has been posted on the blog of the United Kingdom Space Conference. If you are interested in reading it, you can find it at
http://spaceconference.org.uk/index.php/UKSC-Blog/Pluto-the-Planet-that-was.html

Finally, I would like to give credit to my astronomy instructor at Amateur Astronomers, Inc. in Cranford, NJ, for his planet definition, which is far superior to that of the IAU. Please note that this view is his individual opinion and does not necessarily reflect that of the club, which has over 300 members with a wide variety of opinions and does not take a formal stand on this issue.

According to my instructor Al Witzgall, a planet is "a non-self-luminous spheroidal body in orbit around a star." I hope IAU members seriously consider this definition at next year's General Assembly.

Save Pluto!!!

A Wonderful Gift

A few months ago, I commented on the amazing number of songs, poems, essays, etc. created by artists inspired by little Pluto and the sad tale of its unjust demotion. Since then, I have found another gem in the form of a CD tribute to Pluto discoverer Clyde Tombaugh by the singer/songwriter team Richard Fey and Kevin Elias. Their song, "New Horizons: A Tribute to Clyde Tombaugh and the New Horizons Mission" (NASA's recently launched mission to Pluto, scheduled to arrive in 2015) is an uplifting, inspiring tribute with beautifully written lyrics set to an upbeat tune. No mention is made of the wrongful demotion; instead, the song recalls Tombaugh's discovery of Pluto on a winter night in 1930 and celebrates the launch of New Horizons in 2006, carrying some of the ashes of Pluto's discoverer, who died in 1997.

These artists are extremely talented and attempting to make it in the music business independently of the big record labels. Their CD would make a wonderful gift for friends and family members of all ages and not just for Pluto fans.

Anyone can listen to their demo catalogue by visiting their web site at http://www.eliasfey.com/

I ordered the CD about a month ago after being contacted by Kevin Elias' wife Siobhan and immediately fell in love with the song. Siobhan served on the municipal council of Streator, Illinois, birthplace of Clyde Tombaugh, for four years, and this past May, she played a major role in organizing a two-day Planet Pluto Festival there that was a unique combination of entertainment and education. Dr. Alan Stern, Principal Investigator of New Horizons and one of the strongest advocates of Pluto regaining its planet status, was a speaker at this event.

Not only is this CD a more meaningful gift than most of what is available in crowded shopping malls; it also carries a message of faith in dreams and infinite possibilities, a theme in tune with the season of light and hope that culminates with the birth of a New Year.

To quote the song, "You gotta believe, 'cause that's what keeps us moving on. An American dream to where no one's ever gone."

Visit http://www.eliasfey.com/ and keep believing and dreaming.
Happy Holidays!

The Enduring Power of Pluto

Today marks one year since the outrageous vote by four percent of the International Astronomical Union (IAU) to "demote" Pluto. That said, it is fascinating to note that within the past year, Pluto has endured in people's hearts and minds as not just a planet, but as an icon.

At Mercer County Community College, where I assist students in the Learning Center, the final exam in one of the basic English courses focuses on an understanding of natural sciences, social sciences, and humanities as different ways of looking at and understanding the world. Students are asked to pick a subject and in an essay address it from the viewpoint of all three categories.

Within the last year, Pluto more than ever has captured public attention and inspired action and creativity in all these areas.

The science behind the decision makes no more sense than it did one year ago. It is hard to understand why some astronomers have such objections to Pluto and Eris being labeled as both Kuiper Belt Objects (KBOs) and planets, a sort of dual citizenship. Yes, they exist in a belt of objects, but they are different than the majority of those objects in that Pluto and Eris have done what most of those objects have not: they have achieved hydrostatic equilibrium, meaning they have sufficient gravity to have pulled themselves into a round or oblate shape. And they are much larger than the other KBOs including the plutinos, the objects that like Pluto orbit in a 3:2 resonance with Neptune.

As we discover more exoplanets and more objects in our own solar system in distant orbits from the sun, astronomers should be broadening, not narrowing our definition of what a planet is. Pluto and Eris show us that there is an entirely new category of planets, the ice dwarfs, which are different from the terrestrial planets and gas giants, but are clearly planets nonetheless. They're just a different type of planet. We should expect to be adding new categories of planets routinely now that we are discovering objects so far away, both in our own and in other solar systems.

Can and should the term "planet" be defined beyond a very general concept of an object that has achieved hydrostatic equilibrium and orbits a star? Maybe, but only in the case of moons or satellites, which could be labelled "secondary" as opposed to "primary planets" because they orbit other planets instead of stars and in the setting of other planet subcategories.

The term "planet" is based on an error, from ancient days when it was thought the visible planets were wandering stars. Its use today is largely colloquial, historical and cultural. The objects we call planets are not stars, and they do not wander. Therefore, the term is inherently not scientific, and any attempt to try to define it as such will fail.

And why should there be a need for an object to "clear its orbit" or even dominate its orbit to be considered a planet? This might be a descriptive factor for some subcategories of planets such as terrestrial planets and gas giants, but making it a pre-requisite for planethood is arbitrary and was done deliberately to exclude Pluto, which in every other way qualifies as a legitimate planet.

This debate has continued vigorously over the last year and has raised even broader issues, such as, who gets to decide what is and is not a planet? Should the IAU, even if 100 percent of its members voted, have that power? There are many very knowledgable professional and amateur astronomers who are not members of the IAU. And most of the four percent who approved the demotion are not planetary scientists. What is going on here?

In addition to the heightened discussion and awareness of Pluto, something even more exciting has happened. Now in public consciousness, Pluto has inspired the creation of deeply insightful songs, poems, essays, festivals, public events, and artwork. Like religion, politics and nature, Pluto's plight has touched artists around the world, who have created beautiful, moving works as odes to the little planet unjustly scorned.

Here are some of the works I have personally found most touching:

The song "They Demoted Pluto" by Jimmy and the Keyz, at http://www.purevolume.com/jimmyandthekeyz/blog
The song implores listeners, "Don't let them take Pluto away from the other eight. Let your voice be heard, for goodness' sake."

Planet Pluto Expo, held in May 2007 in Streator, Illinois, birthplace of Clyde Tombaugh, discoverer of Pluto, and the song written for the festival by Haley Crouch and the Comet Blues Band, "Bring Pluto Back," at http://plutoexpo.net/Home_Page.html

The song "Planet X" by Christine Lavin at http://www.christinelavin.com/index.php?page=songs&category=Shining_My_Flashlight_on_the_Moon&display=233

The song by Jonathan Colton, sung from the viewpoint of Charon, Pluto's moon, titled "I'm Your Moon," at http://youtube.com/watch?v=JTw2eWE8GBA

The song "Pluto Rocks" by Canadian band SubPlot A, on how Pluto got a raw deal, at http://www.plutorocks.ca/

The song "I Miss Pluto" by the band Expresso Stebo at http://www.garageband.com/song?%7Cpe1%7CS8LTM0LdsaSlZla-YGA

The song "Pluto" by pop band Clare and the Reasons, at http://www.myspace.com/claremuldaur

A poignant, haunting and very sad ballad by One Ring Zero titled "International Astronomical Union," at http://www.oneringzero.com/

Ira Marlowe's "A Song for Pluto" at http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5731414

New Mexico syndicated columnist Jay Miller, who in his August 22, 2007 column "Inside the Capitol," wrote "Hope for Pluto," describing the many friends and advocates Pluto has around the world, and linking to this site, at http://insidethecapitol.blogspot.com/2007/08/8-22-hope-for-pluto.html

A heartwrenching poem and personification of Pluto and its reaction to the demotion, by British writer and amateur astronomer Stuart Atkinson titled "Banishing Pluto" at
http://journals.aol.com/stuartatk/TheVerse/entries/2006/08/27/banishing-pluto/631

A beautiful parable for children and adults of all ages, "Pluto, the Adopted Planet," by Connie Barlow and Bella Downey, at http://www.thegreatstory.org/Pluto-long.html

A web site counting down Pluto's time taken away, at http://www.plutoisaplanet.us/

A thought-provoking essay by Rabbi Yisrael Rice, Director of Chabad in Marin County, California titled "Take Heart Pluto, Less Is More" at http://www.chabad.org/magazine/article.htm/aid/418419/jewish/Take-Heart-Pluto-Less-is-More.html

And of course, there are the advocacy sites, one run by the Massachusetts-based Society for the Preservation of Pluto as a Planet at http://www.plutoisaplanet.org/, a site run by the mayor of Glen Ridge, NJ at http://www.plutoisaplanet.com/, an official declaration by the House and Senate of the State of New Mexico declaring Pluto a planet, the online petition at http://pleasesavepluto.org/ and the petition of professional astronomers led by Dr. Alan Stern saying they would not use the new planet definition, at http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/planetprotest/

Public outreach efforts by Princeton-based amateur astronomer and NASA Solar System Ambassador Ken Kremer, who is circulating a hard copy petition to the IAU stating simply "I agree that Pluto is a planet, and a better definition is needed," signed by children and adults.

And who can forget the insightful "Great Pluto Debate" put on in Brookline, Massachusetts by the Clay Institute and the Society for the Preservation of Pluto as a Planet? I traveled from New Jersey to Boston on some of the coldest days in February for that event, and it was definitely worth it.

I personally believe these works of art and outreach events are testimony to the enduring power and appeal of Pluto. The actual planet may be tiny, but its power to inspire and touch people to such a deep level makes it anything but a dwarf. Pluto was wrongly demoted, and the world reacted with an outpouring of love.

Christine Lavin explains it this way: "Maybe it's the whole underdog thing. You know, kids have always been a big fan of Pluto because it's so little, and children really identify with that. And I think maybe that appealed to me, too."

Somehow, standing up for Pluto has become standing up for the underdog, for the "little guy" against elitism, in a way that recalls Camryn Manheim's triumphant words when she won an Emmy, "this is for all the fat girls." In the same way, all these works inspired by Pluto can be seen as statements for all the underdogs of the world, for all who have been wrongfully rejected and excluded.

The conclusion I draw from all this is that the concept of "planet" is not the province of the IAU or even professional astronomers, alone. Pluto, like the rest of the solar system, like nature, like spirituality, is the heritage of us all. No one group, no matter how educated, should be given the power to play God in setting boundaries of what is in and what is out. The word planet cannot and should not be scientifically defined because it belongs not to science alone, but to humanity. Scientists can make themselves useful here by addressing the subcategories or classifications of types of planets, not by setting arbitrary definitions based on political and personal motivations.

I know that as it has done for so many others, little Pluto has captured my heart and my imagination, and for that I am grateful. I am equally grateful for the many people and groups I have met during the past year while writing and studying this subject and advocating that Pluto's planet status be restored, people who have so enriched my life and broadened my horizons.

I have seen the power of Pluto at work in so many areas, in so many ways. And because I have seen it, I believe more than ever that this demotion will not stand and urge all who believe likewise to keep hope for Pluto alive. Pluto is a planet, always has been, and always will be, 1930-forever.