In 鈥榮 new book The Pluto Files (read our review), he reproduces a selection of angry letters complaining about the decision to reclassify Pluto as a 鈥渄warf planet鈥�, rather than a true planet. Here are some of the letters he received.
18 November 2004
My name is John Glidden. I am six years old and my favorite planet is Pluto. I disagree with you that Pluto is a Kuiper Belt Object. I think Pluto is a real planet and I took a poll of 11 people. The question was, What do you think Pluto is?
Advertisement
- A planet
- A double planet
- A Kuiper Belt object
- A planet and a Kuiper Belt object
I think it is a double planet and everyone else thought it is a regular real planet that is very cold.
I had a half day at school yesterday so my mom brought me to the Museum of Natural History and the Hayden Planetarium. I wanted to see you so I could tell you this in person.
Love,
John Glidden
27 August 2006
F##k Pluto, it was a sorry excuse for a planet anyhow, good riddance to bad solar trash, but now that the name is free, why not rename Uranus Pluto and get rid of all that grade school snickering.
Howard Brenner
6 November 2006
Dear Mr Tyson,
I think pluto is a planet. Why do you think pluto is no longer a planet?
I do not like your anser!!! Pluto is my faveret planet!!! You are going to have to take all of the books away and change them. Pluto is a planet!!!!!!!!
Your friend,
Emerson York
6 November 2006
Dear Scientest,
What do you call Pluto if its not a planet anymore? If you make it a planet again all the science books will be right. Do people live on Pluto? If there are people who live there they won鈥檛 exist. Why can鈥檛 Pluto be a planet? If it鈥檚 small doesn鈥檛 mean that it doen鈥檛 have to be a planet anymore. Some people like Pluto. If it doesn鈥檛 exist then they don鈥檛 have a favorite planet. Please write back, but not in cursive because I can鈥檛 read in cursive.
Your friend,
Madeline Trost
Reprinted from The Pluto Files: The Rise and Fall of America鈥檚 Favorite Planet by Neil deGrasse Tyson. Copyright 漏 2009 by Neil deGrasse Tyson. With permission of the publisher, W W Norton & Company, Inc.
