Letters to the Editor

The Miami Herald >  Opinion >  Letters to the Editor

Pluto’s demotion

 

The latest collision of a meteor and near collision of an asteroid shows that the Earth hasn’t cleared the neighborhood around its orbit, which was the main criteria for demoting Pluto from full planet status.

Many astronomers don’t share the rational for the International Astronomical Union demoting Pluto to dwarf planet status. Dr Alan Stern, who leads NASA’s New Horizons mission to Pluto, called the action sloppy science.

The discovery of Eris, a small planet on the edge of the solar system that’s more than twice the distance from the sun as Pluto, was at first thought to be larger than Pluto.

Its discovery started the drive to redefine a planet and demote Pluto as a planet. Since 2010, it has been found to be the same size or smaller than Pluto.

The IAU needs to correct this mistake and restore Pluto to full planet status.

Van K. Golay, Fort Lauderdale

Read more Letters to the Editor stories from the Miami Herald

  • The readers’ forum

    Screening tests unfair to some students

    Re Eduardo Padron’s May 19 Other Views article, Pell grants for poor students can change lives so let’s fix the system, not dynamite it: Padron, the president of Miami Dade College, takes issue with a report that the National Center on Education and the Economy recently issued.

  • Protect foster kids

    I recently completed 57 months as a house parent in a residential-care home for foster children in Key West.

  • Where was Obama during attack?

    On five Sunday television talk shows, the Obama administration sent out senior advisor Dan Pfeiffer to downplay the three recent scandals: AP, IRS and Benghazi. His claim that the still-unanswered question of where President Obama was and what he did was irrelevant, since Obama was in contact with his staff, was particularly outrageous.

Miami Herald

Join the
Discussion

The Miami Herald is pleased to provide this opportunity to share information, experiences and observations about what's in the news. Some of the comments may be reprinted elsewhere on the site or in the newspaper. We encourage lively, open debate on the issues of the day, and ask that you refrain from profanity, hate speech, personal comments and remarks that are off point. Thank you for taking the time to offer your thoughts.

The Miami Herald uses Facebook's commenting system. You need to log in with a Facebook account in order to comment. If you have questions about commenting with your Facebook account, click here.

Have a news tip? You can send it anonymously. Click here to send us your tip - or - consider joining the Public Insight Network and become a source for The Miami Herald and el Nuevo Herald.

Hide Comments

This affects comments on all stories.

Cancel OK
Web Search powered byYAHOO!SEARCH
Search: Horoscopes | Comics & Games | Data Sleuth

  • More Letters to the Editor

  • Videos

  • VIDEO


» More video

  • On Facebook

  • Quick Job Search

Enter Keyword(s) Enter City Select a State Select a Category