HR0225 99TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

HR0225 LRB099 10979 MST 31335 r

HOUSE RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, Clyde Tombaugh, discoverer of the planet Pluto, was born on a farm near the Illinois community of Streator; and

WHEREAS, Dr. Tombaugh served as a researcher at the prestigious Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona; and

WHEREAS, Dr. Tombaugh first detected the presence of Pluto in 1930; and

WHEREAS, Dr. Tombaugh is the only Illinoisan and the only American to ever discover a planet; and

WHEREAS, For more than 75 years, Pluto was considered the ninth planet of the Solar System; and

WHEREAS, A spacecraft called New Horizons was launched in January of 2006 to explore Pluto in 2015 with Dr. Tombaugh's ashes aboard the spacecraft; and

WHEREAS, Pluto has 5 moons: Charon, Nix, Hydra, Kerberos, and Styx; and

WHEREAS, Pluto's average orbit is more than 3 billion miles from the sun; and

WHEREAS, Pluto was unfairly downgraded to a "dwarf" planet in a vote in which only 4% of the International Astronomical Union's 10,000 scientists participated; and

WHEREAS, Many respected astronomers believe Pluto's full planetary status should be restored; therefore, be it

RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE NINETY-NINTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we urge the International Astronomical Union to restore Pluto to full planetary status; and be it further

RESOLVED, That we declare 2015 as "The Year of Pluto" in honor of Dr. Clyde Tombaugh and the discoveries to be made by the New Horizons spacecraft; and be it further

RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be delivered to the International Astronomical Union.