My Favorite Dwarf Planet Pluto

Way back in the "olden days" there used to be nine planets. Trust me, there was! I still have a copy of when I scored a perfect 100% on my 2nd Grade Science test to prove it. I was the only one in my class to correctly name and spell all of the NINE planets in our solar system... the Milky Way. Pluto was always my favorite because it was smallest of the celestial family. Pluto was the little brother and the underdog. But, you weren't complete without it. Good 'ol Pluto. Knowing Pluto is how I got my Perfect Grade!

These days, I have a 2nd grader of my own. To encourage her, I like to tell her of my own academic triumphs in the face of major frustration. Ok, ok... I didn't mention that I was frustrated because I didn't study, but give me a break. Monday Night Football was on and I just couldn't miss Howard Cosell and the best music in the history of television (Dun, dun, dun, dunnnnnnn). Anyway, MY 2nd grader is now studying the solar system in her science class. She was super excited to list all of the planets for me, but something was wrong. She only named eight planets. I challenged her to try again and make sure she was confident that she'd named them all. "Yep!" she said. By this time I had found my famous Perfect Grade from years ago and sure enough -- I had proof. It had nine planets listed, a big red 100% scribbled on it along with the words, "Great Job!" My 2nd grader snatched the paper and ran away giggling. I chased after her only to find her joyfully telling her mother, "Daddy pulled out one of those old, old papers and it proves that he is wrong and so was his teacher!!! Daddy's not perfect and his teacher must not have been very smart either!" WOW!!! You talk about humiliating. After a brief discussion of how certain I was that there were nine planets in our solar system, her mother advised that we research it on the internet. Why argue with a 2nd grader when you know the information is readily available with an easy internet search?

Grabbing the laptop and doing a quick search on the planets in the Milky Way is as easy as 1-2-3. What better way to prove that there are eight planets in our solar system. No, wait!!!! EIGHT planets? Yes indeed. It seems as though my 2nd grader was correct. Somewhere along the way, we lost a planet. Not just any planet, but my favorite planet, Pluto. This was just a bit too much to digest with a 2nd grader pointing in my face gleefully chanting, "I told ya so, I told ya so!" After admitting that Daddy was wrong, I had to redeem myself in some way. More research was the way to go. I learned that Pluto did not meet the definition of a planet and had been downgraded in 2006 by some group of eggheads called the International Astronomical Union (IAU). The Little Brother planet Pluto is now considered to be a Dwarf Planet.

Upon explaining the discrepancy to my 2nd grader, she sought to console me. She patted me on the shoulder, smiled compassionately and said," That's ok Daddy. You can still keep your Perfect Score since everybody thought there were nine planets back then! It's not like there were computers or anything to tell you any different."