18 February: HAPPY PLUTO DAY!
MEET THE PLUTOS...
PLUTO 1: GOD
In ancient Greek mythology, Pluto (Greek: Πλούτων, Ploutōn) was the ruler of the underworld. In Greek cosmogony, Pluto was given charge of the underworld in a three-way split of sovereignty over the world with his brothers Zeus and Poseidon: Zeus ruling the sky and Poseidon being sovereign over the sea. Pluto's central narrative in myth is of his abducting Persephone (daughter of Zeus and Demeter) to be his wife and queen of his realm; a scenario that would inspire Walt Disney's 1934 'Silly Symphony', The Goddess of Spring.
PLUTO 2: PLANET
On 18 February 1930, (94 years ago today) Clyde Tombaugh of the Lowell Observatory, Flagstaff, Arizona discovered a ninth planet in our Solar System and named it ‘Pluto’.
PLUTO 3: DOG
In May 1931, Mickey Mouse’s pet dog (previously known as ‘Rover’) was renamed ‘Pluto’ when he appeared in Walt Disney’s short cartoon, The Moose Hunt, likely inspired by the huge publicity surrounding the then recent discovery of the planet.
PLUTO 4: DWARF PLANET
In 2006, the International Astronomical Union reclassified Pluto as a ‘Dwarf Planet’. Pluto’s ‘demotion’ caused considerable outrage. Pluto the Pup, however, was unconcerned! In 2023, NASA shared images captured by its spacecraft including a photograph of a glacier on Pluto’s surface, which was shaped like a heart. Others have seen the shape as a silhouette of the head of Mickey’s doggy pal seen in profile!
