The monument is located at the end of Longwood Park on Pearl Nix Parkway, the terminus for a 1.8-mile "walking tour" of the Solar System, the brainchild of the North Georgia Astronomers.
It begins downtown with a monument and replica of the Sun. It then follows a route along Main Street, through Wilshire Trails Park and across Pearl Nix to Longwood Park. It is built to scale in reference to the distance from the Sun, with monuments to each planet and the asteroid belt, along the way.
Efforts to reach members of the Gainesville-based group were unsuccessful Friday morning for comment on the future of "their" Solar System after leading astronomers, meeting in Prague, Czech Republic, declared Thursday that Pluto is no longer a planet under historic new guidelines that downsize the solar system from nine planets to eight.
After a tumultuous week of clashing over the essence of the cosmos, the International Astronomical Union stripped Pluto of the planetary status it has held since its discovery in 1930. The new definition of what is -- and isn't -- a planet fills a centuries-old black hole for scientists who have labored since Copernicus without one.
Although astronomers applauded after the vote, Jocelyn Bell Burnell -- a specialist in neutron stars from Northern Ireland who oversaw the proceedings -- urged those who might be "quite disappointed" to look on the bright side.
"It could be argued that we are creating an umbrella called 'planet' under which the dwarf planets exist," she said, drawing laughter by waving a stuffed Pluto of Walt Disney fame beneath a real umbrella.
The decision by the prestigious international group spells out the basic tests that celestial objects will have to meet before they can be considered for admission to the elite cosmic club.
(The Associated Press contributed to this story.)
http://accesswdun.com/article/2006/8/105430