Disappointed that our solar system mnemonic "My Very Educated Mother Just Served Us Nine Pizzas" became "Mean Very Evil Men Just Shortened Up Nature" at the International Astronomical Union meeting which demoted Pluto as a planet?
You're not alone but Mike Brown, the astronomer who ignited that spark, is unapologetic, and has even written a book on it, "How I Killed Pluto and Why It Had it Coming", where he discusses the origins of his quest, which resulted in Eris and led to the elimination of Pluto as a planet due to a rather ridiculous, arbitrary of definition of planet specifically designed to exclude Pluto instead of being, you know, science.
Instead, even the original, suspect claim - that Eris was larger - has now been debunked. Let's hope that Brown's book sells out before the 2% of astronomers who made this change flip again.
How I Killed Pluto and Why It Had it Coming Hardcover 288 pages Spiegel&Grau (December 7, 2010)
