Astronomer upset at new planet proposal

August 19th, 2006 in Space & Earth / Astronomy
Astronomer upset at new planet proposal (AP)

Michael Brown, an astronomer at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, Calif., poses with, among other things, a computer screensaver image of his 13-month-old daughter Lilah, on the campus Friday, Aug. 18, 2006. Few planet hunters stand to gain as much as Brown if our solar system balloons to 12 planets under a proposed new definition. He´s spotted more than a dozen objects that might qualify as planets. So why is he upset? "When I was a kid, planets were special," he said. "This definition takes the magic out of the solar system." It was Brown´s discovery of an icy rock bigger than Pluto that helped lead astronomers to rethink their definition of what a planet is. But Brown doesn´t think his discovery, or even Pluto, which was spotted in 1930, should qualify as true planets. (Photo/Damian Dovarganes)

(AP) -- Few planet hunters stand to gain as much as Michael Brown if our solar system balloons to 12 planets under a new definition. He's spotted more than a dozen objects that might qualify as planets. So why is he upset? "When I was a kid, planets were special," he said. "This definition takes the magic out of the solar system."

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