Plutonic Relationships

From the "making lemons into lemonade" file, publishers and toymakers see an economic upside to the redefinition of "planet":

Under a proposal by astronomers, the lineup of the solar system's planets would grow from nine to 12. For people who make their living on books, toys and games based on the Mercury-through-Pluto system, a change in the planets means plenty of revisions are in store.

The idea that our nine-planet solar system may soon join the obsolete world of eight-track tapes and slide rule should send science teachers, textbook writers and toymakers back to the cosmic drawing board

"Does it make our products obsolete?" asked Kim McLynn, spokesperson for Illinois-based Learning Resources, which makes an inflatable solar system and a Planet Quest game.

McLynn adds, surprisingly free of hyperbole, "Wow, a whole new universe."

Not everyone is happy, though:

Pity Jack Horkheimer, director of the Miami Space Transit Planetarium and host of PBS' "Star Gazer" show. His very first book, a full-length cartoon guide to naked-eye astronomy, features an entire chapter on the solar system -- the nine-planet version.

It won't be out for four more weeks -- after the world's astronomers are likely to open the solar system doors to three new planets: Ceres, Charon, and one nicknamed Xena to be renamed later.

"My book is out-of-date before it even hits the bookstands," Horkheimer said. "It's kind of like buying a computer. By the time you get it out of the box and get it hooked up, it's already obsolete."

Let's hope Horkheimer's text is more free of cliches than his comments.