Astronomers have finally come up with the definition of a planet. We have been living in a world without that simple definition "since the days of Copernicus"! Under the newly ratified definition, Pluto does not qualify as a planet, so our solar system now contains 8 planets.
Pluto, which is smaller than Earth's moon, doesn't fit the new criteria for a planet: "a celestial body that is in orbit around the sun, has sufficient mass for its self-gravity to overcome rigid body forces so that it assumes a … nearly round shape, and has cleared the neighbourhood around its orbit."I'm definitely happy about this decision, especially since a week ago we were in danger of having a definition that would have included Pluto and 3 other celestial bodies for a total of 12 planets in the solar system. I thought that would be a mistake, and it seems the astronomers agreed with me. And the funniest thing about the article? Well, it's trying to make it seem like this new classification is a really big deal, but the best "implication" that they could come up with, is that students will have to find a new mnemonic device to remember the names and order of the planets. Oh no! Not only is that incredibly easy and simple to do, but when I was in elementary school, we managed to remember that information just fine without a mnemonic device. Guess it just isn't 'news' unless it fucks with your life somehow.
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