By 
July 30th, 2018
Pluto framed by New Horizons’ historic flight through the Pluto system on July 14, 2015.
Credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Southwest Research Institute/Alex Parker
A heady group of space scientists are ringing a bell concerning how to define the word “planet.”
The reminder has been targeted at The International Astronomical Union (IAU), the group that in 2006 voted to demote Pluto from planet status.
Titled, “On the Insensitive Use of the Term “Planet 9” for Objects Beyond Pluto,” the reminder is posted in the July 29th issue of the Planetary Exploration Newsletter.
Far from universally accepted
“We the undersigned wish to remind our colleagues that the IAU planet definition adopted in 2006 has been controversial and is far from universally accepted. Given this, and given the incredible accomplishment of the discovery of Pluto, the harbinger of the solar system’s third zone – the Kuiper Belt – by planetary astronomer Clyde W. Tombaugh in 1930, we the undersigned believe the use of the term “Planet 9” for objects beyond Pluto is insensitive to Professor Tombaugh’s legacy.”
Clyde W. Tombaugh at the door of the Pluto discovery telescope at the Lowell Observatory in Arizona.
Credit: Lowell
Observatory Archives
“We further believe the use of this term should be discontinued in favor of culturally and taxonomically neutral terms for such planets, such as Planet X, Planet Next, or Giant Planet Five.”
Signed by:
Paul Abell
Michael Allison
Nadine Barlow
James Bauer
Gordon Bjoraker
Paul Byrne
Eric Christiansen
Rajani Dhingra
Timothy Dowling
David Dunham
Tony L. Farnham
Harold Geller
Alvero Gonzalez
David Grinspoon
Will Grundy
George Hindman
Kampalayya M. Hiremath
Brian Holler
Stephanie Jarmak
Martin Knapmeyer
Rosaly Lopes
Amy Lovell
Ralph McNutt
Phil Metzger
Sripada Murty
Michael Paul
Kirby Runyon
Ray Russell
John Stansberry
Alan Stern
Mike Summers
Henry Throop
Hal Weaver
Larry Wasserman
Sloane Wiktorowicz
Posted in Space News
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