DEMOTING
PLUTO

Topics: Authority; Change; Defeat; Ego; Failure; Fall of Humanity; Human Worth; Humility; Identity; Nature; Power; Powerlessness; Pride; Respect; Science; Self-image

References: Job 1:13–22; 2 Corinthians 13:5; Galatians 6:3; Philippians 2:3, 5–11; Revelation 12:9

Pluto has lost its place among the giants of our solar system. On August 24, 2006, the International Astronomical Union voted to strip Pluto of its planetary status, defining it instead as a “dwarf planet.”

The demotion was part of a shake-up in the Union’s galactic guidelines. To qualify as a planet, a heavenly body must now “orbit the sun, be large enough to assume a round shape, and clear the neighborhood around its orbit.” The third requirement disqualifies Pluto, which is surrounded by objects of similar size and characteristics.

“It’s disappointing in a way, and confusing,” said Patricia Tombaugh, ninety-three, widow of Clyde Tombaugh, who first discovered Pluto in 1930. “I don’t know just how to handle it. It sounds like I just lost my job.”

—William J. Kole, “Dinky Pluto Loses Its Status as a Planet,” news.yahoo.com (August 25, 2006)