A Open Letter to the International Astronomical Union

Dear International Astronomical Union people,

There’s a problem only you can fix.

There’s articles that say the International Astronomical Union is going to make Pluto a planet again and there’s articles that say the International Astronomical Union is going to not make Pluto a planet again. There’s articles from Forbes and articles from space.com and articles from physics-astronomy.com and articles from USA Today and way more, and it looks like nobody is agreeing about if Pluto is a planet or not a planet.

I’m 9 years old and I love Pluto … a lot.

For years and years and years, Pluto was a planet and then one day, the International Astronomical Union de-planeted Pluto for a few reasons. One of the reasons was because Pluto was smaller than all the other planets in the solar system. Another reason was because Pluto has a orbit that’s not a circle (it’s a oval).

Then the International Astronomical Union said Pluto was a plutoid.

Here’s the thing, International Astronomical Union people: When a person or a animal is way smaller than the others in the group, that person or animal is just the smallest person in the group. Some people call the smallest animal the runt of the litter. If it’s a puppy dog, no one says, “Oh, that’s the runt of the litter. He can’t be called a dog anymore. He’s going to be a dog-oid.”

Also, just because Pluto doesn’t go around in circles doesn’t mean it’s not a planet. What if all the other planets are boy planets and Pluto is a girl planet but nobody figured that part out yet? Or what if all the other planets are regular planets and Pluto is a independent thinker planet?

My Grandpa Barrett says I’m not a regular kid. He says I’m a independent thinker. But you know what he does NOT say? He does NOT say, “Oh, that Missy. She’s not a regular kid, she’s a independent thinker so she’s not a kid anymore. She’s a human-oid. She’s not a kid anymore. She’s de-kidded because she’s a independent thinker.”

I know you guys promote science and define planets. That’s what space.com says about you guys. I know you guys are a organization of professional astronomers. That’s what your website says about you guys.

Also, I know you guys already gave fourteen places on Pluto names this month, and you named some of those places after underworld mythology. I don’t get that. How come the underworld? What did Pluto ever do to you guys for you to be so mean of her?

So please, if you guys at the International Astronomical Union and SETI Institute and New Horizons and NASA would just say already that Pluto is a real planet like all the others in our solar system, that would be a great place to start, and I promise not to complain about the underworld stuff anymore.

I think that would be a great compromise. A small one but even though it would be a small one, you should know that I will NOT call it a compromoid.

Sincerely,

Missy Barrett
Pluto Is A Planet

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Good Deeds From Last Week

Last Wednesday was officially International Missy Barrett Day thanks to a Proclamation by the Mayor of Sevierville.  Probably you think I’m only thinking it was official, but no it was 100% totally official.  Here’s a picture of the Proclamation.

Anyway, Wednesday was International Missy Barrett Day and I was asking people to do good deeds on that day, take pictures of those good deeds (or the effects of their good deeds), and share it on social media with the hashtag #DoAGoodDeed.  I wish I could share everybody’s social media posts because there were so many people doing good deeds.  What really counts is that so many people were doing good deeds, and that means the world was a better place on Wednesday because so many people were caring about others.  Here’s a collage of some (but not all) of the good deeds that got done by some (but not all) people.

Even journalists got involved.  Kyle Grainger lives where I live, and he did so many good deeds on International Missy Barrett Day.  He was a one-person dynamo, that’s how awesome he was.  I put together a collage of just some of the good deeds Mr. Grainger did last Wednesday, and it’s superly awesome!

I’m already looking forward to next year’s International Missy Barrett Day when I’m going to ask people to #DoAGoodDeed on August 30 and then share it on social media to inspire other people to #DoAGoodDeed as well.  And plus, if people want to #DoAGoodDeed every single day between now and next year, that would be fantastic!  Can you imagine how great things are going to be if lots of people decide to #DoAGoodDeed every single day until August 30, 2018?  Oh boy, it would be the best year ever I think.

If you want to add comments about what you did on International Missy Barrett Day, you can do that in the Comments Section below.  I would love to find out how you made International Missy Barrett Day 2017 amazing in your own special #DoAGoodDeed way.