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Article

Title: A COSMIC SHAKEUP

Author: Buchanan, Wyatt Article Type: Product Analysis
Source: San Francisco Chronicle, pA1(2) Publication Date: Aug 25, 2006
  Illustrations: Charts, Photographs
URL of Publication: http://www.sfgate.com

The demotion of Pluto from a planet to a 'dwarf planet' has forced planetariums, gift shops, and hobbyist astronomers to adjust their activities. According to Etta Herber, director of programs at the Chabot Space and Science Center in Oakland, California, the center is likely to debate how to present the new designation to the public. The center has an entire wing devoted to planets that orbit the Sun. In the Center's gift shop, all the merchandise that include Pluto as a planet was suddenly outdated, and the shop's supervisor acknowledged that a significant amount of new merchandise will be required as a result of the demotion of Pluto. The Morrison Planetarium at the California Academy of Sciences is still under construction, so there is time to adjust for the revision in the solar system. At the Exploratorium in San Francisco, Ron Hipschman, a physicist who works there, says that the demotion of Pluto was unfair. The loss of Pluto as the last planetary outpost has given Neptune a new status in popular culture, since it is now the outermost planet in the solar system. Visitors to the Planetarium were not concerned about Pluto's status because, as Raymond Casey, an 11-year-old visitor, stated, 'it's not like we're ever going to go over there.' However, older visitors were discomfited by the change and stated that they wanted to keep the nine planets.

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