Our Plutonic Relationship

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Poor Pluto. It may be bounced from the Solar System. Or at least its status a planet could be revoked.

PRAGUE, Czech Republic (AP) -- The ninth rock from the sun faces the prospect of being demoted to a "dwarf planet" on Thursday if the International Astronomical Union approves new planetary definitions.

Some scientists say Pluto never deserved to be a planet in the first place. It's smaller than Earth's moon, has a funky way of orbiting the sun, and lurks so far out on the fringes of the solar system even the powerful Hubble Space Telescope has to squint to see it.

I’ve lived long enough now to have seen a lot of changes but I never thought I would see the day when the Solar System was reduced to only eight planets.

Thing is, I kind of have to agree with the astronomers who think Pluto really doesn’t meet the definition of a planet. OK, I don’t know what the exact definition of a planet is but I’m thinking Pluto is sufficiently dissimilar to the other planets to disqualify it. It pains me to say that since I was able to recite the names of the planets almost before I could the alphabet. Pluto’s always been, literally, part of my universe. But, alas, it’s been shown to have been an imposter all these years. Celestial life is just full of hard knocks.

Update: The AP is reporting Pluto has been officially demoted. We now have only eight planets in our solar system. No word on if Pluto can appeal.