Caroline Bauer - Mount Holyoke College



Caroline Bauer

Planet Earth

4 April 2006

Science in the Popular Media:

“Icy Ball is Larger than Pluto. So, Is It a Planet?”

“Icy Ball Is Larger Than Pluto. So, Is It a Planet?,” published in the New York Times by Kenneth Chang, presents the discovery of a possible new planet. This relatively new addition to the solar system was found in the past year, and its potential status as a planet has been heavily debated in science articles since. The article states that the “10th Planet,” nicknamed Xena, is 30 percent wider than Pluto and highly reflective, leading astronomers to believe that Xena is covered in methane ice like Pluto. However, Xena is much more intensely reflective, also causing researchers to think that Xena is much larger than Pluto. Throughout the article, the difficulties of defining what constitutes a planet are discussed, making the problem of what to do with Xena clearer.

This article was published on the 2nd of February; on the 3rd of February an article was published in Science magazine severely contradicting the facts presented by Chang. In “New Hubble Image Cuts the “10th Planet” Down to Size,” Robert Irion states that Xena is Pluto’s twin in size (Irion 2006). New images caught by the Hubble Telescope revel that Xena is barely bigger than Pluto, and reflects 92 percent of its optical light (Irion 2006). Irion also mentions that discovering Xena’s new size sheds no light on the controversy of it becoming a planet, and in fact makes the debate harder (Irion 2006). To deny Xena as a planet would be as if Pluto is being demoted as well. Changing Pluto’s status as a planet would be changing 76 years worth of history (Schilling 2006), which would require a substantial amount of research.

The substantial difference between the Chang and Irion articles lies in their reporting of Xena’s size. Chang was so definite in his writing that Xena was 30 percent larger than Pluto that he almost sensationalized the incorrect information. The information in Chang’s article was already obsolete when published, because Irion documented and published the correct figures for Pluto one day later. In “Planet X and the Issue of Definitions in Science,” Massimo Pigliucci published that Xena falls in between Mercury and Pluto in size (Pigliucci 2006). Pigliucci’s article was published in February 2006, also when it was known that Xena is not larger than Pluto. Both Chang and Pigliucci’s articles were published in popular mediums, while Irion’s was published in a scientific journal. Because of this, Chang was probably regurgitating information found in previously published scientific articles. “Icy Ball is Larger Than Pluto. So Is It a Planet?” was not meant to be on the cutting edge of the scientific world, but rather meant to catch New York Times readers up on their scientific knowledge.

The second argument introduced in all of the articles chosen for this paper is the difficulty of defining a planet. In “10th Planet Has a Partner,” published in Science News, the fact is presented that Xena has a moon, making it more apt to be named a planet. The article also states that Xena and Pluto seem to be a part of a family of forms with similar features and histories (Science News, 2005). This being said, it seems that more problems will arise with discovery of more entities like Pluto and Xena. In the same vein of Chang only repeating facts in “Icy Ball Is Larger than Than Pluto. So Is It a Planet?,” he states a definition of planets as being: “a planet has to gravitationally dominate its surroundings (Chang 2006). Chang only re-stated a published definition, while the other articles hypothesized their own or what to do about the current definitions. For example,

If Irion, Pigliucci, and Schilling did not publish their articles rendering Chang’s article obsolete, then “Icy Ball is Larger Than Pluto. So Is It a Planet?,” would have little to no problems. There is a time and place for popular science articles, but how quickly the information that Chang presents creates the problem at hand. It should be said that any articles presenting scientific information found in a popular source should be taken with a grain of salt.

Works Cited

“10th Planet” has a partner.(Xena the tenth planet has a moon)(Brief Article).” Science News 168.18 (Oct 29, 2005). Mount Holyoke College

Chang, Kenneth. "Icy Ball is Larger Than Pluto. So is It a Planet?" The New York Times 2 Feb. 2006. .

Irion, Robert. "New Hubble Image Cuts the "10th Planet" Down to Size." Science 311 (2006). Web of Science. Mount Holyoke College.

Pigliucci, Massimo. “Planet X and the Issue of Definitions in Science.(THINKING ABOUT SCIENCE).” Skeptical Inquirer 30.1 (Jan-Feb 2006).

Mount Holyoke College

Shilling, Govert. "Long Trek to Solar System's Last Frontier Begins." Science 311 (2006). Web of Science. Mount Holyoke College.

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