You know a space story is a huge space story when you can no longer keep track of all the cultural references to poor old Pluto’s recent demotion.  Everywhere I look, someone is talking about Pluto.  A sampling:

• ESPN Sportcenter introduced their program with a humorous reference to Pluto’s demotion.
• Technorati, the site that monitors 52 million blogs, has had Pluto as their number one search term for the second consecutive day
• The recent sparring match between Stephen Colbert and Neil Tyson on The Colbert Report
• T-shirts for sale (always a good sign)
• Planetary Photoshop contests
• There is a homegrown youtube video circulating
• Someone like Disney ruins the charm of it all

Why all the public reaction and hoopla? Maybe it simply boils down to ingrained chidhood memories.  Like learning multiplication tables or memorizing the Periodic Table, memorizing the planets is something we all have done and can’t easily forget.  Remember “My Very, Eccentric Mother Just Showed Us Nine Planets“?

Even though I’m relieved that a decision was finally made, I can’t help feeling a hint of sadness about losing Pluto.  There’s a hint of that sadness buried in most every culture reference to Pluto this week too.