Pluto in the Dog House
Another battle on the edges of science. How do you define a planet?
At a 12-day conference beginning Monday, scientists will conduct a galactic census of sorts. Among the possibilities at the meeting of the International Astronomical Union in the Czech Republic capital of Prague: Subtract Pluto or christen one more planet, and possibly dozens more.
Will 2003 UB313 become Planet Xena, or will Pluto get kicked out of the planet club?
Lots of scientific inquiry gets into a shouting match over definitions. Astronomers, however, are likely to be quietly debating this in Prague.
Josh Poulson
Posted Monday, Aug 14 2006 11:22 AM
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