Remember our discussions of Pluto’s demotion/reclassification? (Lots of link reminders at bottom of post.) Well, here’s a sad (and amusing) image* created by artist Mathias Pedersen:
You can see a high resolution version of this image here. Don’t forget to look at more of the graphic art of Mathias Pedersen**.
Poor Pluto indeed!
(Take some time to appreciate how good a job he’s done on colours and other features of the planets. For artistic purposes he’s cheated on the scales a bit so that the gas giants (e.g. Jupiter) are not enormously huge compared to the rest, as they actually are – see a graphic here with better scales). I love that he’s also humourously reproduced the extremely unusual tilt angle of Uranus’ axis – brilliant!
Which reminds me – I wonder how the campaign to get Pluto reinstated is going? Anybody been following it? (See this post, for example.) Give us an update, if so.
-cvj
(*I saw this first at the Dynamics of Cats.)
(**Thanks for permission to use this, Mathias!)
Get a life! Its a piece of frozen flatulant gas and rocks in the far reaches of space.
It’s just not fair. Pluto is a very unique planet and it deserves to be a planet. Pluto is just as important as all the other planets. Making Pluto a “Dwarf Planet” is just like saying we’re going to reclassify you to a dwarf human because your smaller than the normal human. Just because the planet Pluto has a diffrent orbit than other planets doesnt mean its a “BAD” diffrent it just makes it unique better than the other planets. I’ll leave it as it is but we’ve got to change their minds some how
Pluto is pretty much frickin amazing and I love it and all the people who demoted it are mean and they should go to heck yo! Someday I’m going to go there and give it a blanket and a cup of hot cocoa and tell him that it’s ok, I’m not a planet either. And those other byooooooooooooooooootch planets that are gangin up on him can die to. Except mars cuz that’s where I love.
cute poster; i feel bad now because of the picture but i also feel that pluto needs to stick up for itself. if planets ar gangin’ up on you; you have to tell them “back off i got at&t”
i really do feel bad for pluto, it was really a kick to the balls to me that it was demoted but i swear as long as im alive it will be a planet to me and to my kids when i have some and their kids and so on
POOR PLUTO LOL!!!!!!!
I feel the same way POOR PLUTO!!!! i think it would make a great childrens book too!!
I feel sorry for Pluto. Poor pluto. I wish Pluto could be bigger so it can be a planet again.
i think dats so mean dat they jus know decided dat pluto isnt a planet its really wrong so i really dont agree wit dat and then so wat is then………..
I felt so bad when i saw this pic!!!… But its kind of true!!
But the eye colors aren’t right, though, are they?
I somehow feel this image could be the basis of a great children’s book … [what editors, in addition to those at King magazine, read this blog??!].
Of course it would be a more suitable story once Pluto is reinstated …
Dear Clifford, I stopped sitting on the fence on this issue after I had some time to think about it. I’m bothered alot by the inconsistency of the definitions, when they are applied literally, and so I stated my opinion over on cosmicvariance:
http://cosmicvariance.com/2007/03/30/88-largest-objects-in-the-solar-system/#comment-236393
at the end of March. As far as I know, the compaign to have the issue be brought up at the next IAU meeting continues. I understand that there was a lack of resources this year by the petitioners to have a specific conference discuss this issue, however, the topic is presented and discussed at every opportunity such as the EGU in Vienna (April 15-20), and the upcoming Dawn Launch Symposium, June 28-30. Mark Sykes at PSI, might be the best person to ask about the status of the petition.
Yes, take that International Astronomical Union!! If they’d thought about how upset they’d make the poor little planet (just look at its little face!), I bet that the massive vote by 5% of the IAU community would have gone differently. 😉
-cvj
This picture should help jump start the campaign to get Pluto reinstated. Poor poor Pluto.
Great find, Clifford. I Love it. Just look at the way he has used the GRS (and the Uranian tilt).