Sunday, October 01, 2006

MVEMJUN1

Well, any of the mnemonics you've used to remember the names of the planets of our solar system are out of date. Pluto has now been relegated as "not a planet" and renamed as a number - 134340. And how is this so? Here's an except from the Wikipedia entry:

In August of 2006 the International Astronomical Union (IAU) redefined the term "planet", and classified Pluto, Ceres, and Eris as dwarf planets. Pluto is also classified as the prototype of a family of trans-Neptunian objects. After the reclassification, Pluto was added to the list of minor planets and given the number 134340.

Somehow, it's just not the same. (Not that it's likely to bother me given I didn't get it right in the title - where's Saturn?)

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