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:

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.

My reply after two others expressed mild interest in the fact that it has finally been resolved:

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.

Any thoughts (other than 420's "lets destroy the sun" idea)?


-Elessar

[420]

Poor Pluto's been demoted from Planetary status.  :(

[snapback]30910[/snapback]

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.

Pluto is automatically disqualified because its oblong orbit overlaps with Neptune's.

Uh... wouldn't that also disqualify Neptune?

Stupid astronomers, they may as well all be astrologers for all the sense they make.

-420

[Mo]

Uh... wouldn't that also disqualify Neptune?

-420

[snapback]30912[/snapback]

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

[420]

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]

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.


And I like Mo's theory!

Also I would like to say...DEATH TO PLUTO!

[Elessar Telrunya]

And now for TRIVIA TIME!!!!

Why was Lister given the nickname "Cinzano Bianco"?

-420

[snapback]30914[/snapback]

Once you got him on a pool table, you couldn't get him off. Props to wikipedia for all my wacky, 420-created trivia needs! *clicky*



-Elessar

[cuchulann]

Once you got him on a pool table, you couldn't get him off. Props to wikipedia for all my wacky, 420-created trivia needs! *clicky*
-Elessar

[snapback]30916[/snapback]

All this talk about Pluto, what about the Planet Rupert? (A more obscure bit of sci-fi trivia)

[Mo]

All this talk about Pluto, what about the Planet Rupert? (A more obscure bit of sci-fi trivia)

[snapback]30917[/snapback]

Rupert

A planet in Earth's solar system beyond the orbit of Pluto. Rupert was named Persephone, but nicknamed Rupert after "some astronomer's parrot." It was eventually settled by the grebulons.

Man Wikipedia makes life unfair hehehe
Owns all your trivia.

[420]

Man Wikipedia makes life unfair hehehe
Owns all your trivia.

[snapback]30918[/snapback]

Sounds suspiciously like something from one of the Hitchikers Guide to the Galaxy books.

-420

[Soul Sojourner]

Eh, already heard all this. lol. Happens when you go to about 7 boards.

[Anheg]

Maybe we should use this as a chance to test our planatary missels, you never know when terrorists will start attacking form outerspace!

[420]

Maybe we should use this as a chance to test our planatary missels, you never know when terrorists will start attacking form outerspace! :o

[snapback]30926[/snapback]

It won't be terrorists, it will be the commies! China plans to land on the moon, then it will only be a matter of time before they construct an orbital sling-shot to toss moon rocks down on America!!!

So, you know what that means... we must blow up the moon!

-420

[Elessar Telrunya]

It won't be terrorists, it will be the commies! China plans to land on the moon, then it will only be a matter of time before they construct an orbital sling-shot to toss moon rocks down on America!!!

So, you know what that means... we must blow up the moon!

-420

[snapback]30930[/snapback]

Then we'd split the moon into three main chunks and all live in fear of the day one of the large moonchunks comes down and kills everyone in a very large impact zone. Sorry no thanks.


-Elessar

[420]

Then we'd split the moon into three main chunks and all live in fear of the day one of the large moonchunks comes down and kills everyone in a very large impact zone. Sorry no thanks.
-Elessar

[snapback]30933[/snapback]

If you've got a better idea on how we counter Chinese-launched orbital slig-shots from the moon I'd like to hear it!!!

-420

[Anheg]

If you've got a better idea on how we counter Chinese-launched orbital slig-shots from the moon I'd like to hear it!!!

-420

[snapback]30934[/snapback]

Blow up the Chineese....

...and the moon, for safe measure?

[Elessar Telrunya]

Blow up the Chineese....

...and the moon, for safe measure?

[snapback]30935[/snapback]

Did you miss my tidbit?


-Elessar

[Soul Sojourner]

Then we'd split the moon into three main chunks and all live in fear of the day one of the large moonchunks comes down and kills everyone in a very large impact zone. Sorry no thanks.
-Elessar

[snapback]30933[/snapback]

Actually that would be the least of concerns. The moon keeps the earth the way it is, the simple fact that it's drifting further and further away is already terrible news, luckily it's slow as fuck and maybe by the time it could actually cause any problems we could evacuate planet. LOL Seriously, the weather would be thrown out of wack, so might the earths orbit, maybe it would rotate too fast and spin off it's axis. We definately need the moon though, that's for sure. Without it... earth would surely become uninhabitable.

[420]

Actually that would be the least of concerns. The moon keeps the earth the way it is, the simple fact that it's drifting further and further away is already terrible news, luckily it's slow as fuck and maybe by the time it could actually cause any problems we could evacuate planet. LOL Seriously, the weather would be thrown out of wack, so might the earths orbit, maybe it would rotate too fast and spin off it's axis. We definately need the moon though, that's for sure. Without it... earth would surely become uninhabitable.

[snapback]30942[/snapback]

That's odd, I always heard that the moon was in a decaying orbit.

Anyway, the moon was formed when something big hit the earth and kicked a big chunk of rock and dirt into orbit. So earth was doing just fine without the moon before that stupid meteor showed up!

-420

[Elessar Telrunya]

Actually that would be the least of concerns. The moon keeps the earth the way it is, the simple fact that it's drifting further and further away is already terrible news, luckily it's slow as fuck and maybe by the time it could actually cause any problems we could evacuate planet. LOL Seriously, the weather would be thrown out of wack, so might the earths orbit, maybe it would rotate too fast and spin off it's axis. We definately need the moon though, that's for sure. Without it... earth would surely become uninhabitable.

[snapback]30942[/snapback]

erm...my tidbit was more of a joke...like pretty much everything else in this thread related to Earth's moon. i took it from the concept of a new show on tv...


-Elessar

[Soul Sojourner]

Yeah, the earth was so fine before it hit that... we couldn't have existed. Yup. I'm trying to remember which theory talks about alot of this, or perhaps this is something I remember from science class. Either way, we would be fucked without the moon.

[420]

Either way, we would be fucked without the moon.

[snapback]30947[/snapback]

Humans may be fucked, but the Earth would be better off without us anyway.

Carbon-based life depends on the fact that water, unlike everything else, expands when it gets cold. Because ice floats it allowed the ocean to retain enough heat that it became hospitable for carbon-based life.

-420

[Soul Sojourner]

Blow up the moon, and I can just imagine the weather that follows. The sheer chaos. Hey... maybe this can be some sort of prediction! Yeah! Someone wants to "destroy" the world so they wipe out the moon... mass destruction... evil genius... must destroy... moon... fwa.. haha...hahaha....hahahahahaaa...hahahahahaaaaaaaaaa

[Elessar Telrunya]

Blow up the moon, and I can just imagine the weather that follows. The sheer chaos. Hey... maybe this can be some sort of prediction! Yeah! Someone wants to "destroy" the world so they wipe out the moon... mass destruction... evil genius... must destroy... moon... fwa.. haha...hahaha....hahahahahaaa...hahahahahaaaaaaaaaa

[snapback]30949[/snapback]

Erm...as far as I know about whether, and that's a decent bit, the main, if not the only, effect removing the moon would have is a global change in tides because only the sun would be effecting them then. I think without the moon we probably would only experience one high tide and one low tide a day. Other than that most of the earth's weather is dependant on heat from the sun to move forward, not the moon.


-Elessar

[Mo]

Hmm well the tidal forces from the moon might have some effects on the interior of Earth that we don't know about.  Perhaps it helps generate the energy that keeps the core moving.  Without that energy we'd lose our magnetic field, and then the Sun would blow our atmosphere away and that would be bad stuff.

[Elessar Telrunya]

Hmm well the tidal forces from the moon might have some effects on the interior of Earth that we don't know about.  Perhaps it helps generate the energy that keeps the core moving.  Without that energy we'd lose our magnetic field, and then the Sun would blow our atmosphere away and that would be bad stuff.

[snapback]30953[/snapback]

Sure, it could do that, but it won't have much effect on the weather alone.


-Elessar

[Mo]

Sure, it could do that, but it won't have much effect on the weather alone.
-Elessar

[snapback]30954[/snapback]

It would indirectly.  When the atmosphere is gone there will not be any weather.

[Elessar Telrunya]

It would indirectly.  When the atmosphere is gone there will not be any weather.

[snapback]30955[/snapback]

Somethign tells me we had an atmosphere before we had a moon....


-Elessar

[Mo]

Somethign tells me we had an atmosphere before we had a moon....
-Elessar

[snapback]30956[/snapback]

Don't be so sure.  We know suprisingly little about the early Solar Syetem.  The moon was create just about 50 million years after the formation of the Solar System while the Earth was still a molten sphere.  The Earth only became big enough to retain a real atmosphere some time after the moon was formed.  Plus we have no idea when the Earth's magnetic field started, and even less of an idea of how it keeps going.

[Elessar Telrunya]

Don't be so sure.  We know suprisingly little about the early Solar Syetem.  The moon was create just about 50 million years after the formation of the Solar System while the Earth was still a molten sphere.  The Earth only became big enough to retain a real atmosphere some time after the moon was formed.  Plus we have no idea when the Earth's magnetic field started, and even less of an idea of how it keeps going.

[snapback]30957[/snapback]

You mean no one told you? Way back when it was formed they put an Energizer Bunny in so it keeps going...and going...and going...and going...and going...and going...and going...and going...and going...and going...and going...and going...and going...and going...and going...and going...and going!


-Elessar

[Mo]

You mean no one told you? Way back when it was formed they put an Energizer Bunny in so it keeps going...and going...and going...and going...and going...and going...and going...and going...and going...and going...and going...and going...and going...and going...and going...and going...and going!
-Elessar

[snapback]30959[/snapback]

No i must have missed that lol