The illustration of the International Astronomic Union (IAU) shows how the new solar system could look. Photograph: EPA/IAU/Martin Komm
The divergence in feelings some have for planets they will never visit can take you by surprise. The International Astronomical Union's proposals for defining planets were supposed to clear up arguments and confusion on Pluto's final status. Comparing the work of headline writers in British newspapers, however, you could be forgiven for thinking the astronomers had failed.
The Guardian has "Pluto survives as solar system acquires three more planets". The Times offers "Astronomers relegate 'dwarf' Pluto to second division of planets".
Actually, both are true. The proposals make Pluto one of a class of planets consisting of the smaller and more distant bodies (plutons) but, in doing so, frustrate attempts to strike it from the solar system's planet roll call altogether.
You could say, in tabloid speak, this makes Pluto plucky, a triumphant underdog, but some see it as a fudge. "I just want to go on record as saying that this is one of the most dimwitted proposals I've heard in a long time," declares Kevin Drum in Political Animal.
It's craven and calculated, it's going to confuse everyone, and it creates God knows how many new 'planets'.
There are - indeed - hints of the weariness some have towards candidates for EU enlargement in the Telegraph's reference to a "further 12 'candidate planets' on the IAU's watchlist." But are Pluto, or Charon, or UB313 destined for the outer ring of a two-speed solar system, while Earth, Mars and the others dwell in the inner core?
Astronomy would suggest so. The IAU proposals define plutons as planets that take more than 200 years to orbit the sun.
Amid it all, it is a relief to find someone genuinely happy for the likely incomers. Congratulations new planets! begins the post on Adros 47.
There are the 8 classical planets (Mercury to Neptune), then all the other official planets, collectively called Plutons - including Pluto. I love it. I'm naming my first child Pluton!
Adros has an enlightening explanation of why the gravitation centre of the Pluto-Charon system is "actually at a point in space outside the physical boundary of Pluto" but it is the enthusiasm - again, impressive for somewhere so far away and so cold - that makes it hard not to feel a warm glow for the Plutons. "Sorry for all the tech speak - it makes me tingle all over," the post apologises, entirely needlessly.
