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“The IAU vote is a muddled compromise that will not settle the question of ‘What is a planet?’ Pluto is not a ‘planet’ according to resolution 1, but it is a ‘dwarf planet’ by resolution 2. So is it a ‘planet’? I thought so before and think so now.”

Andrew Cheng of Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (SpaceDaily.com, 29 August)

“It’s an awful definition; it’s sloppy science and it would never pass peer review. I have nothing but ridicule for this decision.”

Alan Stern, who leads NASA’s New Horizons mission to Pluto (BBC online, 25 August)

“Many astrologers believe that Pluto’s effects were seen in…

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