2006-08-15

Okay, perhaps not that topic after all

Yesterday, while posting a link to the IAU blog, I said that it would be:

Worth reading to keep an eye out for that popular topic, but also worth reading anyway.
In a post on the blog today I see:
Seed magazine links here, but predicts that you will be able to find out if Pluto is a planet here. No, you won't! I think this is an incredibly unimportant topic, it's not what this meeting is about and I will not mention it at all. Well, not any more, that is.
While I can appreciate that it's a relatively unimportant topic I am left wondering what the actual motivation behind that decision is.

Am I, for example, really so wrong for being interested in that subject as well as the other posts that are being made?

Is it really so terrible that one particular subject has caught popular attention?

I'm finding it hard not to view that sort of attitude as a bit of a swipe at those of us who try and popularise an interest in astronomy at the vaguely-interested and amateur level. Can anyone out there explain to me why I shouldn't view it that way?

File Under: IAU, Pluto, Popular Astronomy.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Dave, I tend to agree with you there. There is a slight tendancy for some astronomers to find the bits of astronomy/planetary science they aren't interested in as "boring". There may also be a backlash because the media has seized upon the story.

I am glad that it is being covered and I hope that some of the other interesting results also get some air time.