Rodriguez 1

Estheffani Rodriguez

Ms. Figueroa pd. 3

Senior English

August 8th 2018

Pluto

With its many familiar features, mountains of ice, glaciers of nitrogen, and a blue sky

with layers of smog, despite what you’ve heard about Pluto, it is in fact a planet according to

scientists. We know very little about Pluto but for very long we were told and convinced that it

wasn’t a planet. Logos was used in this article because of all the information that was given to

support what they’re saying. Three years ago, NASA launched the fastest spaceship ever

launched which raced past Pluto. Planetary scientists have spent their careers studying unknown

objects in space. “In 2006, the international astronomical union announced an attempted

redefinition of the word ‘planet’ that excluded many objects, including Pluto. We think that

decision was flawed and that a logical and useful definition of planet will include many more

words.” (Grinspoon, pg. 2) Logos was used here because there were many facts supporting why

Pluto wasn’t considered a planet and lead up to how they discovered it was.

The main reason Pluto wasn’t considered a planet for so long was because of its size.

The word ‘planets’ is used to describe some of the largest moons in space. They had few facts

about Pluto, one of them was that it was only 17 miles across. Even before New Horizons

arrived, they were sure it wasn’t a planet without having many facts to help prove that. “The

desire to reconsider the meaning of ‘planet’ arose because of two thrilling discoveries about our

universe. There are planets in unbelievable abundance beyond our solar system- called

exoplanets. Orbiting every star we see in the sky.” (Grinspoon, pg. 2) After they discovered all of
 Rodriguez 2

these objects orbiting the sky, the decided to reconsider what they called planets. Just like how

stars like our sun are considered “dwarf stars”, it made sense to consider Pluto a “dwarf planet.”

After all of the controversy, they were still debating on whether or not to call it a planet.

They wanted to make sure it was referred to by its definition. “In the meantime, people will keep

referring to the planets being discovered around other stars as planets, and we’ll keep referring to

round objects in our solar system and elsewhere as planets.”(Stern pg. 3) They’re still hoping

that IAU reconsiders its definition but to others Pluto will remain a planet.