Other > Random Ranting
Bye-bye, planet Pluto...
Elessar Telrunya:
Poor Pluto's been demoted from Planetary status. :(
Post with full description where I first read this on the "RR"-type section of another forums:
--- Quote ---Astronomers say Pluto is not a planet
PRAGUE, Czech Republic - Leading astronomers 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 â?? and isn't â?? 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 â?? a specialist in neutron stars from Northern Ireland who oversaw the proceedings â?? 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.
For now, membership will be restricted to the eight "classical" planets in the solar system: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune.
Much-maligned Pluto doesn't make the grade under the new rules for a planet: "a celestial body that is in orbit around the sun, has sufficient mass for its self-gravity to overcome rigid body forces so that it assumes a ... nearly round shape, and has cleared the neighborhood around its orbit."
Pluto is automatically disqualified because its oblong orbit overlaps with Neptune's.
Instead, it will be reclassified in a new category of "dwarf planets," similar to what long have been termed "minor planets." The definition also lays out a third class of lesser objects that orbit the sun â?? "small solar system bodies," a term that will apply to numerous asteroids, comets and other natural satellites.
It was unclear how Pluto's demotion might affect the mission of
NASA's New Horizons spacecraft, which earlier this year began a 9 1/2-year journey to the oddball object to unearth more of its secrets.
The decision at a conference of 2,500 astronomers from 75 countries was a dramatic shift from just a week ago, when the group's leaders floated a proposal that would have reaffirmed Pluto's planetary status and made planets of its largest moon and two other objects.
That plan proved highly unpopular, splitting astronomers into factions and triggering days of sometimes combative debate that led to Pluto's undoing.
Now, two of the objects that at one point were cruising toward possible full-fledged planethood will join Pluto as dwarfs: the asteroid Ceres, which was a planet in the 1800s before it got demoted, and 2003 UB313, an icy object slightly larger than Pluto whose discoverer, Michael Brown of the California Institute of Technology, has nicknamed "Xena."
Charon, the largest of Pluto's three moons, is no longer under consideration for any special designation.
Brown was pleased by the decision. He had argued that Pluto and similar bodies didn't deserve planet status, saying that would "take the magic out of the solar system."
"UB313 is the largest dwarf planet. That's kind of cool," he said.
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My reply after two others expressed mild interest in the fact that it has finally been resolved:
--- Quote ---The article seems to neglect Sedna! Wasn't she discovered and brought up to planetary status only several months ago?
Pluto=Planet in my books. :(
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Any thoughts (other than 420's "lets destroy the sun" idea)?
-Elessar
420:
--- Quote ---Poor Pluto's been demoted from Planetary status. :(
[snapback]30910[/snapback]
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Well at least they are using "dwarf planet" and "small solar system bodies" instead of "planitoid". Fuck I hate that word, sounds like an extremely strong breath mint.
I'm surprised they didn't mention Sedna at all, maybe they are still trying to determine if it meets all the requirements.
--- Quote ---Pluto is automatically disqualified because its oblong orbit overlaps with Neptune's.
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Uh... wouldn't that also disqualify Neptune?
Stupid astronomers, they may as well all be astrologers for all the sense they make.
-420
Mo:
--- Quote ---Uh... wouldn't that also disqualify Neptune?
-420
[snapback]30912[/snapback]
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lol No. Pluto's orbit is the eccentric one. It's the one that overlaps Neptune. Neptune is in it's billions year old nearly circular orbit around the Sun. It does not overlap Pluto's.
It's about time Pluto is finally recognized officially as a planetoid. Though I believe the "Planet Definition" still needs some work. Though I was thinking, maybe it actually used to be a planet? Maybe we'll find out when the Nasa probe gets there. I'm no astrophysicist but what if Pluto and Charon used to be one whole planet with a near circular orbit. Perhaps a large body impacted with it and destroyed this planet. Over time the pieces reformed into the Pluto-Charon system we see today. Also the force of the impact changed the orbit into the wacky one of today. Like I said there may be a simple law of physics that says this is impossible, but I dunno the thought just occured to me and seems interesting :P
420:
--- Quote ---Like I said there may be a simple law of physics that says this is impossible, but I dunno the thought just occured to me and seems interesting
[snapback]30913[/snapback]
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Well, I get all my scientific information from Red Dwarf. According to Dave "Cinzano Bianco" Lister you can use a nuclear explosive and play pool with planets in order to plug up White Holes. Compared to that, your theory sounds completely sane!
And now for TRIVIA TIME!!!!
Why was Lister given the nickname "Cinzano Bianco"?
-420
Mercy:
Because it makes sense. :P
And I like Mo's theory! :D
Also I would like to say...DEATH TO PLUTO!
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