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huffdaddy
Joined: 25 Nov 2005
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 Posted: Thu Aug 24, 2006 6:38 am Post subject: Pluto demoted |
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http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060824/ap_on_sc/planet_mutiny_10
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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 � 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.
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 � "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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mithridates
Joined: 03 Mar 2003
Location: President's office, Korean Space Agency
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| Posted: Thu Aug 24, 2006 6:48 am Post subject: |
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Good. I like how the definition includes a kind of gravitational monopoly meaning that to be a planet it has to be in control of the area that it's in. And it has to orbit a star of course.
Were the definition to have been changed the other way all these little objects might have become planets too, and who knows what else that's just waiting to be discovered:
http://www.iau2006.org/mirror/www.iau.org/iau0601/screen/iau0601c.jpg |
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numazawa
Joined: 20 Mar 2005
Location: The Concrete Barnyard
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| Posted: Thu Aug 24, 2006 7:21 am Post subject: |
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| mithridates wrote: |
Were the definition to have been changed the other way all these little objects might have become planets too, and who knows what else that's just waiting to be discovered...
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Yeah, I think you're right -- they wanted to close that window before the U.S. epidemic of obesity really gets out of control. |
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dulouz
Joined: 04 Feb 2003
Location: Uranus
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| Posted: Thu Aug 24, 2006 7:43 am Post subject: |
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I read the IHT on the subway everyday. I've read about ten articles about this "development".
To wit I respond -
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What is the deal with Goofy and Pluto?
What is the difference between Goofy and Pluto?
Why does Goofy talk and wear clothes, while Pluto is just Mickie's pet? I mean, they're both dogs, so why the inequality? |
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Ya-ta Boy
Joined: 16 Jan 2003
Location: Established in 1994
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| Posted: Thu Aug 24, 2006 2:24 pm Post subject: |
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| Poor Pluto. I feel sorry for it. |
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wormholes101
Joined: 11 Mar 2003
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| Posted: Thu Aug 24, 2006 3:00 pm Post subject: |
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Good. Pluto has always been a bit of a mutant planet. But, with what MNEMONIC we going to remember the remember the eight planets now?
How about....
My Very Excellent Mnemonic Just Says "Unfortunatey Not (Planet)" |
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mindmetoo
Joined: 02 Feb 2004
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| Posted: Fri Aug 25, 2006 6:01 am Post subject: |
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School children all over the world are going to be strapping on suicide belts and blowing up planetariums. Mark my words.
Many of us grew up with the brontosaurus being a dinosaur. Half the jokes on the Flintstones are predicated on the creature. But the did away with it too. Meh. We're getting along okay. |
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Julius
Joined: 27 Jul 2006
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| Posted: Fri Aug 25, 2006 8:20 am Post subject: |
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| mindmetoo wrote: |
Many of us grew up with the brontosaurus being a dinosaur. . |
Everyone grew up with the idea of polar bears and the ice covered north pole.
How will our psyche change when both cease to exist 20 years from now?And the realisation that we caused their demise? |
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mindmetoo
Joined: 02 Feb 2004
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| Posted: Fri Aug 25, 2006 4:11 pm Post subject: |
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| Julius wrote: |
| mindmetoo wrote: |
Many of us grew up with the brontosaurus being a dinosaur. . |
Everyone grew up with the idea of polar bears and the ice covered north pole.
How will our psyche change when both cease to exist 20 years from now?And the realisation that we caused their demise? |
In the same way we've dealt with the demise of the dodo and the all kind of other species we've put asunder in our quest to lead good comfortable lives, pity but I like my iPod.
So what are you willing to give up to keep the polar bears alive? |
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vexed
Joined: 25 Aug 2006
Location: Daegu
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| Posted: Sat Aug 26, 2006 2:01 am Post subject: |
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| wormholes101 wrote: |
Good. Pluto has always been a bit of a mutant planet. But, with what MNEMONIC we going to remember the remember the eight planets now?
How about....
My Very Excellent Mnemonic Just Says "Unfortunatey Not (Planet)" |
I used to use: My Very Easy Method Just Speeds Up Naming Planets. But now I'll have to use:
My Very Easy Method Just Seems Ultimately Needless
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Julius
Joined: 27 Jul 2006
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| Posted: Sat Aug 26, 2006 8:28 am Post subject: |
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| mindmetoo wrote: |
| Julius wrote: |
| mindmetoo wrote: |
Many of us grew up with the brontosaurus being a dinosaur. . |
Everyone grew up with the idea of polar bears and the ice covered north pole.
How will our psyche change when both cease to exist 20 years from now?And the realisation that we caused their demise? |
In the same way we've dealt with the demise of the dodo and the all kind of other species we've put asunder in our quest to lead good comfortable lives, pity but I like my iPod.
So what are you willing to give up to keep the polar bears alive? |
Thats a good question mindmetoo. Hmm. I have no interest in owning a car and certainly would not have an SUV..
I have no interest in an Ipod either, and my personal possessions have always been limited to practical essentials. There is little in the shops that I want to buy. I'm not really "a consumer".
I have never encountered a wild polar bear in the windswept Arctic, but if i did, I suspect it'd be a bigger rush than anything on an I-pod.
if you think about it, our comfortable lives depend on sustaining the natural world and its processes, rather than destroying it. Clean air, water, and resources. |
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