Arizona GOP Bill Would Make Pluto The State Planet

Courthouse News reports:

For 75 years after its discovery at the Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona, Pluto inched around the outskirts of our solar system known to all as the ninth planet from the sun. But when the International Astronomical Union voted to strictly define what does and doesn’t qualify as a planet, Pluto didn’t quite meet the criteria.

Despite its 2006 downgrade to dwarf planet, the icy world three billion miles away has retained its planetary status in the hearts and minds of many citizens of Arizona — the only U.S. state in which a planet has been discovered.

That’s why state Representative Justin Wilmeth, a Republican from Phoenix, is pushing the Legislature to designate Pluto as the official planet of Arizona. The bill he wrote to do so, House Bill 2477, just took one small step in its voyage toward law.

Read the full article. Wilmeth is a former child actor.

Pluto: Arizona’s state planet? It could happen if bill is passed https://t.co/ASEQAftViU

— FOX 10 Phoenix (@FOX10Phoenix) February 1, 2024