Question of the Day

How do you feel about Pluto's demotion?

Pluto, a proud planet in its own right for a scant seventy-six years (not even a single year, by its own standards), was demoted by the International Astronomical Union. The Editor at Words On Us asked her fellow home scholars what they thought of this turn of events. Here are some of the answers she received.

I'm bummed out. It was my favorite planet, because it was the smallest, and I kind of felt related to it. I just think that they shouldn't take out a planet when they already made it a planet. --Markus, age 8

My four-and-a-half-year-old, Molly, always says that Pluto (which she pronounces more like "Play-Doh") is her favorite planet and it's "just the cutest thing." When we told her that it was no longer considered a planet, she cried.

That's funny. My son calls Play-Doh Pluto! My son Ben, who is now five years old, has been able to say his planets in order since he was two years old. When I told Ben last week that Pluto had been demoted, he said that he was still going to say Pluto anyway. He doesn't care what those scientists have to say, Pluto will always be a planet to him. --Jennifer

Pluto will always be a planet to me, too!

My son is four and a half, and has been able to name all the planets since at least three years of age. He feels the same way Ben does! He says Pluto will always be a planet to him. If you ask him which planet is the smallest...Pluto will be his answer! --Heather

Well, Pluto was pretty small -- I mean, it's really more like a moon. --Brian, age 12

Actually, I think Pluto's an asteroid. I think even if Pluto's an asteroid, we still have nine planets, because I believe in Planet X. --Evan, age 7 1/2

My six-year-old wondered if New Horizons was going to abort mission and head back to earth now that Pluto was no longer a planet. -- Amy

Skylar, age eleven, says with attitude, "It's still a planet, it's still a sphere, it still orbits, it has gravity, there is nothing dwarf about it! It's still a planet!" -- Margey

It's so small -- how can we have a planet that's smaller than seven of our solar system's moons? --Nik, age 10

I can get on with my life with Pluto not being a planet any more. Anything else you want to say to our readers? Hi, Mom! --Maggie, age 9

My astronomy freak dear son burst into tears over it and, days later, is still upset. For years, he's been planning a trip to Pluto, so he has a bit of an emotional attachment to it. He was nearly as upset about some of the others that nearly received planetary status (he favored the original expansion plan). He tore into the rather poorly formed definition, saying how it would toss out other planets as well if followed exactly. Then, this morning, he flew off the handle again over the Newsweek article on the subject -- over some errors in the story and graphics he found. Personally, I've told him for years that it isn't a planet and never should've been made one and that this is the great thing about science. It doesn't just keep things out of tradition; it corrects its mistakes. --Tim

I'm not a very big space person, so it's not a big deal to me either way. --Madeleine, age 10

Well, at our house we were mostly just bummed that Xena didn't get to be a planet. --Molly

My four-year-old is into one-upping, well, just about everything. We play an "I love you" game where we top the other person's love. His last reply: "Oh, yeah? Well, I love you to Pluto, and it isn't even a planet any more!" That's a lot of love. --Laura

To the question "What do you think of Pluto no longer being a main planet, and being called an ice dwarf instead?" Cullen -- 6 -- replied, "It's bad. I want there to be 23 planets instead." I think he's more disappointed that Ceres and "Xena," etc., weren't added than he is that Pluto was demoted.It's not like it's going anywhere, anyway...it's still in its same strange orbit, with many more like it...

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