Courtesy of NASA.

What to do with Pluto reference now that it’s not a planet?

Courtesy of NASA
Pluto (right) and it’s biggest moon Charon / Courtesy of NASA

Pluto has always been my favorite planet because it was the most mysterious and somewhat of an oddball like me. I used to imagine with sort of life/lifeforms exist on Pluto since no one has been able to even get a clear view of it to say there isn’t life. To add to its mysteries, its orbit around the sun has always been the oddest of 9 planets which we now know is because of its small size and 5 moons. Mysteries aside, recent news about its declassification as a planet makes me wonder what’ll happen to other Pluto things bestowed by fellow Pluto fans when it was still a planet?

Many of us know that many of our planets’ names are derived from Roman Gods of eons past. There’s Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Neptune, Uranus, and of course Pluto. All (minus Earth which is derived from Germanic texts) came from the Roman Gods due to many previous astomers’ penchant for using mythical Gods or figures from Greek and Roman mythology to name their discoveries. The tradition was continued by the International Astronomical Union (IAU) when Pluto was discovered on February 18, 1930.

But what now when Pluto is no longer a planet? Seems like it has become the odd man out recently when it was demoted. It’s like having a collection, but you suddenly discovered that one of your prized collection is a fake! To make matter worse, you’ve heavily promoted your collection in text books that have been reprinted thousands of times, countless websites, and people have name things after your collection. Take for example Sailor Pluto from the very popular Japanese anime Sailor Moon aka Bishoujo Senshi Seeraamuun. Is her existence no longer legitimate because the “planet” from which she draws her power is no longer………working? There’s actually a whole list here from Bustle that details other pop culture reference to Pluto.

pluto-characters
Hades from Disney’s Hercules and Sailor Pluto from Sailor Moon

I don’t think the IAU knew the magnitude of the ribble declassifying Pluto would cause. For us Pluto fans out there, I guess the only thing to do is to revile in the old memorabilia which included Pluto in the solar system and do one of those knowing smile like when you come across an easter egg in Pixar movies.