Planned Planethood

This post is chronologically delayed but I needed it to sink in for a couple years first, since this subject honestly gets me very heated.

Being a planet is a big deal. It's like having a PhD. Even if you're not a physician, you still want people to call you "Doctor." Astronomically, it's quite similar. Consider, when you say "that's half-way around the world." People travel that far in hot-air balloons, and in our selfish, schedule-centered minds, it translates into an incredibly lengthy plane ride, and ending up in a different time zone. However, the context changes if you say, "that's on the other side of the planet." Now, it seems incredible to travel that distance unless you're an astronaut with a jet pack.

Accidentally discovered in 1930 by a 24 year old lab assistant looking for "Planet X," Pluto was significantly smaller than the other planets in our solar system. Below, Pluto (left) and its moon, Charon (right) are compared to the size of the United States.

In 2006, a couple other objects (larger than Pluto) were discovered and classified as dwarf planets, which then prompted experts to reclassify Pluto. This is completely unfair on several levels. That's like having a child, and thinking they're so cute, and then seeing another child down the street, and then saying, "Kid, sorry, you're uglier than I thought compared to those other kids. You're not cute anymore."

But so what?! Just because a dollar bill isn't a $100 bill, it doesn't make it not money! And you would still pick it up if you found it on the street and put it in your pocket. Just because my friend is only 4'11", I don't consider her not an adult.... The same goes for planets, and especially planets, because they're PLANETS! (celestial bodies revolving about the sun and shining by reflected light)

Honestly, unless the reincarnated spirit of Galileo's left nut presents himself to NASA and confirms that indeed Pluto is not a planet, and should only be regarded as an orbiting object, Pluto will always be the 9th planet, in my eyes. Power to the little guys!

Let's also not forget that cartoons are depictions of reality and if we remember the Adventures of the Little Prince, who lived alone on a tiny planet (B6-12) and rode a comet to Earth every day, then we should know that even a tiny planet like B6-12 is still a PLANET. Ok, I'll get off my soapbox now.