Wednesday, July 29, 2015

Hasselhoff Wednesday: Eris and Pluto

Spotlight: Easy come, easy go. On this date in 2005, astronomers announced the discovery of Eris, a heavenly body slightly larger than Pluto, and called it the 10th planet. The International Astronomical Union did a little further research and decided that both bodies were too small to be official planets, so Eris and Pluto were demoted to the official designation of dwarf planet. Along with its moon, Dysnomia, Eris is the most distant known object in orbit around the sun. The word "pluto" took on a new meaning with this move — it came to be defined as "to demote or devalue someone or something."
Quote: "Mmm. Lost a planet, Master Obi-Wan has. How embarrassing. How embarrassing."  Yoda, Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones

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