It's been officially relegated to a lower status, one of many ice-covered objects that make up the Kuiper Belt (no, I don't think that's what Duane Kuiper uses to hold his pants up).
If you grew up around the time I did - you know the planets via a mnemonic device:
My (Mercury) very (Venus) educated (Earth) mother (Mars) just (Jupiter) served (Saturn) us (Uranus) nine (Neptune) Pizza-pies (Pluto).
Just think, if my 5th grade teacher, Mr. Mercier, or middle school science teacher Mr. Wier get to read this blog - they could be surprised I still recall something I learned in their class. (Confession time - science has not been my strong suit.)
It may come from growing up as the astronauts blasted into space. I'm too young to really remember John Glenn and Alan Shepherd making history, but by the time the Apolo missions began I was captivated by the thought of space travel. Skylab passed over our backyard one night in the late 1970s; I saw it streak past.
Later, I was intrigued by other trips into space. The Mariner 10 flew by Mercury in 1974 to learn temperatures ranged from -297 to 369 Fahrenheit. Voyagers 1 and 2 inspected Saturn (1980), Neptune (Voyager 2, 1986) and Uranus (2, 1989).
Yet, there was something about the planet with the Goofy (oops, sorry - I meant Pluto) name. Pluto was named by a British school girl for a mythical Roman god of the underworld. It was discovered in 1930 by an Illinois farm boy who pursued a career in astronomy without the benefit of college.
Today, the nimble 1,000-pound craft which lifted off 9 years ago drops in. Pluto is 3.7 BILLION miles from earth - it's a billion miles past Uranus (so, I hope it filled up and picked up some snacks). It is close enough at 6,000 miles and traveling at 31,000 miles per hour to take pictures and record data about Pluto and its five known moons.
3.7 billion miles is so far, that the speed of light still takes nine hours from Pluto to Earth and back.
I can't wait to see the pictures.
And, my blog friends - if you really are of my age cohort - I suppose you've giggled a little each time the planet Uranus was mentioned. You know who you are!
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