National Geographic Teaches Kids About Pluto
Monday, November 24, 2008
It can be a bit puzzling, but after all these years astronomers have declared that Pluto is no longer a planet. If you have children who knew all nine planets by heart it is a little difficult to tell them that there are only eight planets now and in actuality Pluto is a dwarf planet. Sensing the frustration from parents and teachers nationwide National Geographic has launched a web site, "Pluto's Secret" to help educate children on the recent intergalactic change.
Based at
http://kids.nationalgeographic.com/Games/ActionGames/Plutos-secret, kids can play games that teach them about all of the planets, but puts extra emphasis on Pluto's recent downgrade out of planet status.
Science and space are popular categories for National Geographic Web site visitors of all ages. Check out a wealth of space stories, photos and interactive features at www.nationalgeographic.com.
posted by The Mom Salon Editors @ 2:54 AM,
1 Comments:
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At November 24, 2008 1:21 PM,
Laurel Kornfeld said...
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Unfortunately, this game does not provide the whole picture, only one part of it.
There are NOT only eight planets in our solar system now. Only four percent of the IAU, most of whom are not planetary scientists, voted on this controversial definition. No absentee voting was allowed. It was done so in a highly controversial process that violated the IAU’s own bylaws, and it was immediately opposed by a petition of 300 professional astronomers saying they will not use the new definition, which they described accurately as “sloppy.” Also significant is the fact that many planetary scientists are not IAU members and therefore had no say in this matter at all.
Pluto IS a planet because unlike most objects in the Kuiper Belt, it has attained hydrostatic equilibrium, meaning it has enough self-gravity to have pulled itself into a round shape. When an object is large enough for this to happen, it becomes differentiated with core, mantle, and crust, just like Earth and the larger planets, and develops the same geological processes as the larger planets, processes that inert asteroids and most KBOs do not have.
Not distinguishing between shapeless asteroids and objects whose composition clearly makes them planets is a disservice and is sloppy science.
As of now, there are three other KBOs that meet this criterion and therefore should be classified as planets--Haumea, Makemake, and Eris. Only one KBO has been found to be larger than Pluto, and that is Eris.
The IAU definition makes no linguistic sense, as it states that dwarf planets are not planets at all. That’s like saying a grizzly bear is not a bear. Second, it defines objects solely by where they are while ignoring what they are. If Earth were placed in Pluto’s orbit, by the IAU definition, it would not be a planet. That is because the further away an object is from its parent star, the more difficulty it will have in clearing its orbit.
Many believe we should keep the term planet broad to encompass any non-self-luminous spheroidal object orbiting a star.
We can distinguish different types of planets with subcategories such as terrestrial planets, gas giants, ice giants, dwarf planets, super Earths, hot Jupiters, etc.
We should be broadening, not narrowing our concept of planet as more objects are being discovered in this and other solar systems.
Significantly, the lead scientist opposing the demotion of Pluto is NASA's own Dr. Alan Stern, Principal Investigator of the New Horizons mission to Pluto. You can find his latest discussion on this issue at: http://www.sciencenews.org/index/generic/activity/view/id/38770/title/Debates_over_definition_of_planet_continue_and_inspire
You can also find transcripts of the Great Planet Debate, held this past summer at Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Lab in Laurel, MD, where it was clear this issue is still very much a matter of debate, at:http://gpd.jhuapl.edu/
Teaching children only one view of this issue when the reality is that there are several, equally valid interpretations, constitutes a disservice to the children and a missed opportunity to educate them about how this is still very much an ongoing debate.
