a retraction: no, virginia, pluto is not a planet.

"...actually, Virginia, we're really sorry. We know that we gave your dream hope, telling you that this Pluto you believed in so strongly was really a planet. We understand why you questioned it, and we thought we were telling the truth. Turns out we lied. Oops. Also, we'd like to take this opportunity to tell you that we are in no way responsible for distress, emotional or otherwise, caused by this event, nor will we pay for any ramifications of potential distress, now or ever, including but not limited to: therapy, counseling, a degree in astonomy or drug use. But, uh, keep asking those questions, kid. Really, it's important that you know the, uh, truth. Or, uh, whatever is true at the time."

Sincerely,

the guy whose fault it wasn't.

Huh. So we go from nine...to twelve...to eight.

There are now only eight planets. Seriously. At least they came up with a better definition for a planet. “a celestial body that is in orbit around the sun, has sufficient mass for its self-gravity to overcome rigid body forces so that it assumes a ... nearly round shape, and has cleared the neighborhood around its orbit.” (PS, I don’t know what’s left out in the …, but rest assured, I’ll tell you if I discover it. No need to lose sleep!)

So, now how do we remember them? I’m sure they’ll come up with something.

Oh, and the best part? The dwarf planets. It’s a big huge umbrella designation for those we’re choosing not to call planets, but are still big. Uh-huh. Riiiight. That’s called sitting comfortably on the fence, boys and girls.

…still shaking my head…

(source)