The status of Pluto strikes home

[Ronald Florence]

The City Council of New London, the smallest city in Connecticut, this
week debated and passed a 19-line resolution establishing a council
committee to support maintaining Pluto's status as a planet within the
solar system.

City Manager Richard Brown introduced the resolution, which read in
part: `Size and distance are not necessarily relevant determining
factors in assessing the importance of planets in the universe. This
decertification [of Pluto] could have enormous implications relating
to the status of smaller communities such as New London.'

How many astronomers have paid attention to the important issue of the
status of New London in their efforts to determine whether Pluto meets
the criteria of a planet?
--

Ronald Florence