The Extraordinary Tourist
The World Wide Pluto Conspiracy.
Tuesday, October 09, 2007
Popular YouTuber Nalts recently posted this video rant about the planet pluto being downgraded to 'dwarf' planet status. Nalts video opposes the announcement on August 24th, 2006, by the The International Astronomical Union (IAU), that Pluto would no longer retain full planetary status due its size being considerably smaller than other 'planet like' objects found in the same region of space.
You can read about the announcement in this article from Science Daily which includes an illustration of other objects, amongst them a larger object called 'Xena', that some astronomers were hoping would achieve 'planet' status.
The Nalts video jogged my memory of an article that I wrote way back in 1996 that positioned my beliefs on the question of alien life forms and whether they do or don't exist. What is remarkable about the article is that it puts forward the idea that the planet Pluto may not actually exist. Here is an extract:
Just because you haven’t seen a UFO or an Alien life form doesn’t mean they don’t exist. Most people have never seen the planet Pluto either yet we accept that it exists because we’ve all seen pictures and enough independent astronomers have actually seen it through a telescope to confirm that for us. If that was all the evidence we need then UFOs and Aliens would be fact. We’ve all seen pictures of them and there are enough independent witnesses to confirm their existence for us.
In both cases how do you know that what your looking at is truth. Just because an astronomer focuses your telescope for you doesn’t automatically mean that you’re looking at Pluto. Yes - welcome to the world wide Pluto conspiracy.
Possibility and the need for an open mind is vitally important to reaching your own conclusions on what is truth. One day in the distant future one of your ancestors could be standing on Pluto thinking “Yes, at last I have concrete proof that Pluto exists.”
Then one of my ancestors walks over and says “Pluto? no mate you ever heard of the World wide Pluto conspiracy that was uncovered in the early part of the 21st century?”
- TET, 26 August 1996.
Did I know something back in 1996 - almost exactly ten years before Pluto was down graded in August 2006? Technically, while the big rock in space called 'Pluto' does exist, it no longer exists as a planet. According to the IAU it should never have been classified as a planet in the first place based on the size of other objects found recently with more modern telescopes.
Is this just the tip of the ice berg in the World Wide Pluto Conspiracy? Is Xena working to replace Pluto as the furthest planet from our sun? Could Mercury be under threat in its newly acquired status as the smallest planet in our system? Who are these people at the IAU and why do they get to decide if Pluto can be a planet or not?
You've gotta love a good conspiracy theory no matter how spaced out!
Footnote: The above article isn't intended to be a serious contribution to the discussion. If you would like to know more about the IAU's discussions about defining just what constitutes a 'planet' then a good place to start is this article on their web site.Labels: news, observation, video
Comments:
I gotta know. How on Earth did that video get on your radar?
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posted by Nalts :
October 10, 2007 11:25 PM
One word... 'subscriber'... and it is absolutely true that your video did prompt me to remember the article I wrote ten years ago.
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posted by TET (David) :
October 11, 2007 8:44 AM
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