Thoughts on Pluto

Poor Pluto, it's been demoted. It's no longer a planet, because it hasn't "cleared the neighbourhood of its orbit."

Apparently, its orbit overlaps with Neptune. I guess, also, there are some other large objects in and around Pluto's orbital path.

I don't quite get this decision, since Earth certainly has its share of objects hanging around its orbital path. And Jupiter is surrounded by thousands of Trojan asteroids.

I mean Pluto is a large round rock that orbits the sun. What else do you need to be a planet?

Apparently, if Pluto had remained a planet, there would have been at least three other objects that would have had to have been named to planet status as well. And you wouldn't want to have that. Students can only be required to remember so much. And nine planets were already way too much.

The elimination of Pluto is going to screw up people's mnemonics. Most people remember the order in which the planets are distanced from the sun with the mnemonic: "My Very Excellent Mother Just Sent Us Nine Pizzas." Now how is that mnemonic going to work? It's been ruined. No one is ever going to be able to come up with another phrase. That would be impossible.

Poor Clyde Tombaugh, if he was alive, I wonder if he would be disappointed about Pluto's new status. Tombaugh was the one to discover Pluto when he was just 24-years-old.

Apparently, only five per cent of the world's astronomers voted on this decision to demote Pluto. It's kind of like the voter turnouts at university student council elections. Maybe most astronomers don't really care.

Is Pluto really a planet? From what I've read, it's one of those questions that will never be answered with certainty.

Anyhow, I've given this topic way, way too much thought.