Defenders of “planet Pluto” have not been appeased by its latest name-change, and are marshalling support for a major scientific meeting devoted to debating its place in the solar system.
Last week, the International Astronomical Union (IAU) designated Pluto and its cousin Eris as “plutoids”. “It sounds like ‘haemorrhoids’,” says Alan Stern, who is chief scientist for NASA’s New Horizons mission to Pluto. He says that planetary scientists have been left out of the IAU’s decision-making. Now these scientists will get the chance to present arguments for and against at in August at Laurel, Maryland.
The IAU won’t be obliged to accept their conclusions. “The IAU has done what it could to come forward with a working definition,” says IAU general secretary Karel van der Hucht. “In the meantime, it’s a free world, anybody may organise meetings on the subject.”
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