It has long been clear that Pluto, discovered in 1930, stood apart from the previously discovered planets. Not only was it much smaller than them, only about 1,600 miles in diameter, smaller than the Moon, but its elongated orbit is tilted with respect to the other planets and it goes inside the orbit of Neptune part of its 248-year journey around the Sun.
Pluto makes a better match with the other ice balls that have since been discovered in the dark realms beyond Neptune, they have argued. In 2000, when the new Rose Center for Earth and Space opened at the American Museum of Natural History, Pluto was denoted in a display as a Kuiper Belt Object and not a planet.
The planets are now put in groups: the 4 Terrestrial planets, including earth, and the 4 Jovian, or gaseous planets. No longer will students be trying to memorize the nine planets in order.
The change in Pluto's status created a lot of controversy, which is covered in the book. Pluto had been a planet all their lives, and they wished for it to continue that way. People are gradually making the adjustment to the new way of looking at our solar system.
Lyrics by Jeff Mondak and Alex Stangel
Since 1930, quite a run
It was always the smallest one
And oh so distant from the sun
But Pluto’s not a planet anymore
Uranus may be famous
But Mercury’s feeling hot
For Pluto was a planet
And somehow now it’s not
Neptune’s nervous, Saturn’s sad
And jumpin’ Jupiter is hoppin’ mad
Eight remain of nine we had
Pluto’s not a planet anymore
They held the meeting here on Earth
Mars and Venus proved their worth
But puny Pluto lacked the girth
So, Pluto’s not a planet anymore
d campus.
Every Saturday is the fabulous Farmer's Market.
There are bike trails and running trails everywhere.
And our son and daughter-in-law live there!
I am currently reading The Frontiersmen by Allan W Eckert. It is a "narrative history" of the opening of Kentucky and the great Northwest Territory -- Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin and part of Minnesota -- during the period 1755 to 1836, through events of the French and Indian War, the Revolutionary War and the War of 1812. It is the first of six in the series titled "The Winning of America."
Allan W. Eckert is a historian, naturalist, novelist, poet, screenwriter, and playwright. Eckert was born in Buffalo, New York and raised in the Chicago, Illinois area, but has been a long-time resident of Bellefontaine, Ohio, near where he attended university. As a young man, he hitch-hiked around the United States, living off the land and learning about wildlife. He began writing about nature and American history at the age of thirteen, eventually becoming an author of numerous distinguished books for children and adults. Seven of his books have been nominated for the Pulitzer Prize in literature. One of his novels tells how the Great Auk went extinct.
Eckert has sparked controversy with his "hidden dialogue" technique. After many years of research on a topic, he has felt free to recreate historical conversations and thoughts in what some critics have considered to be "an entertaining blend of fact and fiction" purporting to be a straight biography. His colorful evocations of history have been praised as more accessible than drier, more strictly factual, accounts. I enjoy his writing, and do not quibble about whether the speaker actually used those exact words.
The Frontiersmen is one of numerous books written by Eckert that have been nominated for a Pulitzer Prize. Here is a list of all his books:
