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Definition of "pluton" in danger
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From: Allen Glazner <afglazne@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Greetings,
Members of the volcanology community should be aware that the
International Astronomical Union (IAU), meeting now in Prague, is
proposing a new term for Pluto-like planetary objects --"pluton". This
seems like a remarkably bad idea, given how important and
well-established the word is in Earth science and that planetology and
geology are closely related sciences. Unless we want students coming
into our classes thinking that plutons are transneptunian objects , we
need to convince the astronomers to come up with a different word.
I am writing to encourage you to contact members of the IAU and ask them
to change this. Officers of the IAU are listed at
http://www.iau2006.org/mirror/www.iau.org/Officers.60.0.html
http://www.iau2006.org/mirror/www.iau.org/Vice-Presidents.59.0.html
http://www.iau2006.org/mirror/www.iau.org/Advisers.58.0.html
Final vote on the contentious issue of whether Pluto should be called a
planet is scheduled for this Thursday, August 24, so time is short.
Please take a moment to let your feelings be known--we need to educate
planetologists about their home planet.
Thanks,
Allen Glazner
**********
Prof. Allen F. Glazner
Dept. of Geological Sciences, CB# 3315
University of North Carolina
Chapel Hill, NC 27599-3315
919-962-0689, fax 919-966-4519
http://www.geosci.unc.edu/faculty/glazner/glazner.html
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