The Pluto Controversy
Over the summer of 2006, there was an explosion of interest in Pluto,
driven by the deliberations of the
International Astronomical Union
on the definition of planets. The
final decision to demote Pluto to
the status of a "dwarf planet" overturned an
earlier proposal which would have kept Pluto and "upgraded"
several other objects to planetary status. Additional details can be
found from
wikipedia and from
the
leader of the team that discovered
Eris. There was an enormous amount of commentary, including
op-eds,
extended discussions on
astroblogs (see also
here),
petitions,
resolutions,
and
general foolishness. But regardless of what we call Pluto, in just
over 8 years
time we'll know a lot more about it when the
New Horizons spacecraft arrives at Pluto.