A Tribute to the Ninth Planet No More
Aug. 24th, 2006 05:57 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jmfargoDear Friends,
We are gathered here today, at (close to) 6pm, to honor the memory of what was once known as the ninth planet, Pluto. It's been rendered obsolete, dropped from the chart of our solar system to become just so much space dust. Out of all the things in our solar system it had the distinction of being one sibling out of nine, but now it is simply one piece out of many bits of floating debris.
Today is a sad day.
We're told not to mourn, that Pluto isn't gone, that it's now part of a new category, changed but not forgotten, a "Dwarf Planet." It's still there, hanging in its erratic orbit, one day the ninth object in orbit and the next* the seventh in line. It was unique, if tiny. The fact of the matter is that where it was one of nine, as I said, it is now one of thirty or more. It is gone, we may mourn.
Now raise your drinks my friends, because tonight we drink to Pluto, farthest planet from the sun on all those mobiles created in the 4th grade science competitions, most unknown, and completely unseeable with the naked eye. It travelled with us for many years as an equal, now those days are gone.
You'll be missed, you tiny giant.
Now please join me in one minute of silence until 6:01pm EST to mourn the passing on of our friend.
Thank you.
* "Next" being rather liberal, if you count a few years as "the next day."
We are gathered here today, at (close to) 6pm, to honor the memory of what was once known as the ninth planet, Pluto. It's been rendered obsolete, dropped from the chart of our solar system to become just so much space dust. Out of all the things in our solar system it had the distinction of being one sibling out of nine, but now it is simply one piece out of many bits of floating debris.
Today is a sad day.
We're told not to mourn, that Pluto isn't gone, that it's now part of a new category, changed but not forgotten, a "Dwarf Planet." It's still there, hanging in its erratic orbit, one day the ninth object in orbit and the next* the seventh in line. It was unique, if tiny. The fact of the matter is that where it was one of nine, as I said, it is now one of thirty or more. It is gone, we may mourn.
Now raise your drinks my friends, because tonight we drink to Pluto, farthest planet from the sun on all those mobiles created in the 4th grade science competitions, most unknown, and completely unseeable with the naked eye. It travelled with us for many years as an equal, now those days are gone.
You'll be missed, you tiny giant.
Now please join me in one minute of silence until 6:01pm EST to mourn the passing on of our friend.
Thank you.
* "Next" being rather liberal, if you count a few years as "the next day."
