Showing posts with label pluto. Show all posts
Showing posts with label pluto. Show all posts

Friday, March 11, 2011

Pluto is too a planet! protest at Greenwood Space Travel Supply in Seattle on Saturday

By Jack Brummet
Paranormal and otherworlds editor


Click to enlarge - Photo courtesy of NASA

The whole problem began when scientists discovered that the "tenth planet" was slightly larger than Pluto.  Then came the great dis! I'd been hoping the tenth planet would actually expand the roster--and look at us now...with a pathetic rookerful of a mere eight planets!  These kids are right.  And they've been taking it to the streets for four years now.   

Pluto is too a planet! protest at
Greenwood Space Travel Supply Saturday

[from a press release by the Greenwood Space Travel Supply Co. a/k/a 826 Seattle]

Pluto used to be classified as a planet, until the International Astronomical Union redefined the term “planet” in 2006. Greenwood Space Travel Supply Co. was understandably upset, and has since hosted an annual Pluto is a Planet Protest March and Rally. The fourth annual rally begins at 1:30 p.m. Saturday.

It is an injustice that local nonprofit 826 Seattle and Greenwood Space Travel Supply Co., this planet’s only provisioner of space adventuring necessities, will fight until it’s overturned.

Show your support for this unique people’s movement by joining our march, chanting pro-Pluto chants, and waving/shaking signs.

Sign-making and pre-march pep rally will begin at 1:30pm at the 826 Seattle/Greenwood Space Travel -Supply Co. The march departs at 2pm. The rally will take place at Neptune Coffee (8415 Greenwood Ave N) starting at approximately 2:15pm. The rally will be brief, so be sure to arrive on time.

826 Seattle is a nonprofit writing center that helps students, ages six to 18, develop their creative and expository writing skills. We are dedicated to providing students with access to writing workshops, publishing projects, and one-on-one help with homework and English language learning – all free of charge.
---o0o---

Friday, December 19, 2008

Follow-up on the tenth planet: The Tenth Planet Isn't


The "tenth planet" a/k/a 2003 UB313 - click to enlarge

A year and a half ago, I posted a poem, and an article on the tenth planet, a subject I found endlessly fascinating. One reason I found it so interesting was that the notion of a tenth planet was a plot arc near the end of the television series Dark Skies [1].

Back in mid-2006, many scientists thought the planet would become the tenth planet:

"We are 100 percent confident that this is the first object bigger than Pluto ever found in the outer solar system," Dr. Mike Brown of the California Institute of Technology said. "Even if it reflected 100 percent of the light reaching it, it would still be as big as Pluto," says Brown. Pluto is 1400 miles (2300 km) wide. "I'd say it's probably [about] one and a half times the size of Pluto, but we're not sure." Rumor has it that the International Astronomical Union (IAU) has either made a decision (or will by August 2006) as to whether or not the tenth planet will really be classified as a planet or not.

As it turns out, it was not classified as a planet at all, but instead as a dwarf planet, As of mid-2008, five smaller objects are classified as dwarf planets. Ceres is in the asteroid belt, and four orbit the Sun beyond Neptune: Haumea, Makemake, Eris, and. . .Pluto!!!!!

click to enlarge

I am deflated and stunned. Not only is UB313 not the tenth planet, but Pluto had been declassified! It's not even a planet anymore. There are not nine planets, but eight. How could the Scientists do this...I mean this is truly a mindf***er! I went from thinking there were maybe ten down to eight. Having just found this out tonight, I wonder what's next: Abe Lincoln is a fictional character?

I guess we can take some comfort in the eight that remain:


[1] The crux of Dark Skies: 20th Century history as we know it is a lie. Aliens have been among us since the late 1940s, but a government cover-up has protected the public from such knowledge. As the series progresses, we follow John Loengard and Kim Sayers through the 1960s as they attempt to foil the plots of the alien Hive. The Hive is an alien race that planned to invade Earth through a manipulation of historical events and famous figures, including most notably the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. In addition, the pair must stay one step ahead of a covert government agency that has mixed motives, Majestic 12.
The show featured a number of real-life 1960's personalities in the plot, such as The Beatles, Robert Kennedy, Jim Morrison, Carl Sagan, Ronald Reagan, and J Edgar Hoover.

Previous posts on the tenth planet: