Iggy Azalea leaks a “Lil Pluto”…?
It would appear that old wounds never heal in outer space
You know the old tagline: In space,Ā no one can hear you scream. Unfortunately, being stuck on this rapidly warming rock of ours, we can hearĀ everyoneĀ screaming just fineāespecially those yowling about the particularities of space itself, ironically.
Last we checked in on our demoted pal, Pluto, it was still most certainlyĀ notĀ a planet, despite a decade-and-a-halfās worth of grousing from overly invested astronomy fans (welcome to the world of pop culture, astronomy fans). And even though the man responsible for snatching away its designation in the first placeĀ tried to make it up to everyone recently, the fact remains that it is still highly unlikely the International Astronomical Union will backtrack on its 2006 decision.
HD image of Pluto’s surface was captured by New Horizons. Zoom in Here
Rest easy, old friend
Perhaps itās the knowledge of this near hopeless case that recently prompted a group of scientists to apparently throw up their hands and give their go-for-broke demand of āScrew it. We donāt just want Pluto back, we want another 150 goddamn planets added to the list.ā
Thatās the gist of aĀ new article published in the research journalĀ Icarus, arguing that the IAU are the real jabronis here, goddamnit.Ā AsĀ NBC NewsĀ breaks it down, the team of scientists allege that the current planetary classification system is based more on outdated astrological (read: pseudoscientific) terminologies, and should be updated to reflect the modern age.
A āplanet,ā by their definition, is āany geologically activeā body in space, which not only would rope Pluto back into the fold, but also moons like Europa, Enceladus and Titan, as well as the asteroid, Ceres. All in all, about 150 new āplanetsā to add to the existing eight.
Unfortunately, as planetary geologist Paul Byrne explained, all this back-and-forth about taxonomy often overshadows much of the other genuinely fascinating aspects about these celestial bodies of all sizes. āEvery time I gave a talk and I put up a picture of Pluto, the first question was not about the planetās geology, but why was it demoted?ā he toldĀ NBC News. āThatās what stuck with people, and thatās a real shame.ā
Donāt get us wrong; weāre sureĀ these classifications matter for all kinds of research purposes. But it was hard enough to remember āMy Very Educated Mother Just Served Us Nine Pizzasā as a childā¦Ā God help the generation that needs to figure out a 150-letter mnemonic device.
More Pluto Revenge by Iggy Azalea
Iggy “Cameltoe” AzaleaĀ