Pluto and the Galaxy Song

From Monty Python's "Galaxy Song";

Just remember that you're standing on a planet that's evolving
And revolving at nine hundred miles an hour,
That's orbiting at nineteen miles a second, so it's reckoned,
A sun that is the source of all our power.

During my recent trip to Maine we looked up one evening into a night sky that brought to mind Van Gogh. We were so far removed from any serious light pollution that we could see an ocean of stars - and most impressively, the bright dusty cloud of the Milky Way itself. Against the deep black sky you could imagine the bulging disk which we can only witness edge-on from our vantage point out in the western spiral arm. It was a breathtaking view.

We routinely forget our place.

When I heard the news about Pluto I was not surprised. The scientific press has had articles for years about how this distant frozen object doesn't really qualify as a planet. Compared to things like Saturn or Venus - even the moons of Jupiter - it simply isn't much more than two dusty hunks of ice - orbited closely by it's 'dwarf moon' Charon. After all, Akron and Los Angeles may both technically be considered cities, but they have very little in common.

What's exciting about the news, however, is the reminder that we are floating along in a busy solar neighborhood in the depths of space, one which we are continuing to study, classify, and analyze. It's always seems ridiculous and profound to think of ourselves spinning along on a planet while we go about our daily lives - doing dishes, driving to work. But I think it's important to remember once and a while. In some respects it's the ultimate context in which we are living out our physical lives.

Now if somebody will finally recognize that, for all practical intents and purposes, tomatoes really are vegetables. (I know it sounds like blasphemy.)

Tags: Pluto, Astronomy, Monty Python