Message #134218

[Bianca]

National Pride



Despite these seemingly humble intentions, the bill has reignited heated debate over what exactly a planet is.

"Go, Illinois!" said planetary scientist Alan Stern, principle investigator for NASA's New Horizons mission to Pluto.

"I think it's wonderful, in the sense that, as an American, I'm proud that Clyde Tombaugh made one of the biggest finds in 20th-century astronomy."

Mike Brown, an astronomer at the California Institute of Technology, agreed that Tombaugh deserves accolades.

"I am amazed at what he did," Brown said.

Even with advanced computers and larger telescopes, "it took 77 years until we found something bigger than he did"—the distant object now called Eris, which Brown discovered in 2005.

Still, Brown calls the Illinois resolution "very silly," noting that such legislation can be dangerous to public understanding of science.

"The impression that it gives is that there's still a vigorous scientific debate going on, and there's just not."

NASA's Stern counters that plenty of scientists still want Pluto classified as a planet.