Post by Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe on Jul 15, 2009 4:33:06 GMT -6
Pluto a Planet Again in Illinois
The International Astronomical Union demoted Pluto from planet status in 2006, due to anti-American sentiment and politics. The new definition of what constitutes a planet includes a provison of" Must clear it's neighborhood of debris". Which knocks Pluto out of planetary classification...and now known as a dwarf planet or "Plutoid".
But hold on....my State of Illinois - doesn't recognize the demotion.
It took about three minutes for members of the Illinois state senate to make the unanimous vote: "that March 13, 2009, be declared 'Pluto Day' in the State of Illinois in honor of the date its discovery was announced in 1930."
Quietly adopted on February 26, the state resolution is meant to honor Pluto discoverer Clyde Tombaugh, who was born and raised in the farming village of Streator Illinois.
Full story here:
news.nationalgeographic.co.uk/news/2009/03/090311-pluto-planet-illinois.html
RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE NINETY-SIXTH GENERAL
ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS,
...that as Pluto passes
overhead through Illinois' night skies, that it be
reestablished with full planetary status, and that March 13,
2009 be declared "Pluto Day" in the State of Illinois in honor
of the date its discovery was announced in 1930.
ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS,
...that as Pluto passes
overhead through Illinois' night skies, that it be
reestablished with full planetary status, and that March 13,
2009 be declared "Pluto Day" in the State of Illinois in honor
of the date its discovery was announced in 1930.
www.ilga.gov/legislation/fulltext.asp?DocName=&SessionId=76&GA=96&DocTypeId=SR&DocNum=46&GAID=10&LegID=40752&SpecSess=&Session
Well, good.
At least here in Illinois, Pluto is still a planet.