Planet of the Week: Pluto

Discovered by Ckyde Tombaugh in 1930. Very small and far away, the ninth planet from the sun is difficult to see even with a decent-sized telescope. I have only seen it once and that took several hours of scanning the sky and pouring over star charts, trying to make out a 13th magnitude star in the right place.

Pluto has one large moon: Charon. And two small moons recently discovered: Nix and Hydra. It will be interesting to hear Donald Trump's plans for all this new real estate.

August 24, 2006. A date that will live in infamy. The International Astronomical Union downgraded Pluto's status to "dwarf planet". This was one of the stupidest and most asinine decisions ever made by any scientific body in the history of mankind. I'll bet that every one of the idiots who made that decision will also vote for Hillary for president in 2008.

Victory over communism! The New Mexico state legislature is considering a resolution that will declare Pluto a planet.