Myt332 From United Kingdom (England), joined Sep 2003, 8207 posts, RR: 77 Posted (2 years 2 months 4 weeks 22 hours ago) and read 859 times:
Leading astronomers have declared that Pluto is no longer a planet, approving new guidelines that downsize the solar system from nine planets to eight. The International Astronomical Union stripped Pluto of the planetary status it has held since its discovery in 1930.
Nighthawk From United Kingdom (Scotland), joined Sep 2001, 3828 posts, RR: 29 Reply 3, posted (2 years 2 months 4 weeks 22 hours ago) and read 837 times:
Define: planet
1) any of the nine large celestial bodies in the solar system that revolve around the sun and shine by reflected light; Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto in order of their proximity to the sun; viewed from the constellation Hercules, all the planets rotate around the sun in a counterclockwise direction
2) an object in orbit around a star that is not a star in its own right
Now, pluto is not a star, and it orbits round the sun, so that makes it a planet! Cmon astronomers, google says so, so it must be true!
ITS A PLANET!!!! REINSTATE IT NOW!!!!!
"Thats why you need people like me in the secret service" Random Drunk. Manchester. 01/08
Andreas From Germany, joined Oct 2001, 6082 posts, RR: 36 Reply 4, posted (2 years 2 months 4 weeks 22 hours ago) and read 818 times:
Hmmm, does that mean that Pluto gets deleted from Gustav Holst's masterpiece "The planets", too??? Poor Engerlaenders, only a few remarkable pieces in classical music and now THAT
Skidmarks From United Kingdom (England), joined Dec 2004, 6923 posts, RR: 58 Reply 7, posted (2 years 2 months 4 weeks 22 hours ago) and read 798 times:
AerospaceFan From , joined Dec 1969, posts, RR: Reply 9, posted (2 years 2 months 4 weeks 22 hours ago) and read 798 times:
Quoting KFLLCFII (Reply 5): Wasn't there a somewhat-recent release saying they had actually discovered a tenth planet? Now they're downsizing the solar system to eight??
Sedna, Quaoar, Xena and a couple of others, as I recall, are considered Kuiper Belt Objects now. As is poor Pluto! Or are they Trans-Neptunian Objects? It's all quite confusing.
If Pluto is considered a Kuiper Belt Object, then so is Charon, its largest moon, and its two other, much-smaller moons.
Ceres remains a large asteroid, located much closer to Earth.
2H4 From United States, joined Oct 2004, 7249 posts, RR: 54 Reply 10, posted (2 years 2 months 4 weeks 22 hours ago) and read 798 times:
AIRLINERS.NET CREW DATABASE EDITOR
Quoting KFLLCFII (Reply 5): Now they're downsizing the solar system to eight??
Hey, times are tough and oil prices are high. If the solar system hadn't been downsized to improve efficiency, chapter 11 would have been the only option.
DesertJets From United States, joined Feb 2000, 6702 posts, RR: 18 Reply 12, posted (2 years 2 months 4 weeks 22 hours ago) and read 767 times:
Quoting KFLLCFII (Reply 5): Now they're downsizing the solar system to eight??
I think what will eventually happen, especially as more large objects are discovered beyond Neptune, is that some additional classification scheme will be needed for objects like Pluto, Sedna, and 2003 UB313. Size aside, b/c their orbits are often at odd inclinations and are highly eccentric (Sedna for example has an orbital period of 12050(!) years, gets as close as 76 AUs and as far as 975 AUs), they are clearly very different objects in how they came to be and what their role in the solar system is.
Stop drop and roll will not save you in hell. --- seen on a church marque in rural Virginia
Skidmarks From United Kingdom (England), joined Dec 2004, 6923 posts, RR: 58 Reply 13, posted (2 years 2 months 4 weeks 22 hours ago) and read 767 times:
Quoting Myt332 (Reply 8): The nearest thing to Pluto I could find, something desolate and empty.
Garnetpalmetto From United States, joined Oct 2003, 4576 posts, RR: 60 Reply 14, posted (2 years 2 months 4 weeks 22 hours ago) and read 758 times:
AIRLINERS.NET CREW FORUM MODERATOR
Quoting Andreas (Reply 4): Hmmm, does that mean that Pluto gets deleted from Gustav Holst's masterpiece "The planets", too???
Pluto was never a movement in "The Planets" as Holst wrote it. The movement "Pluto, the Renewer" was written as an add-on by Colin Matthews in 2000.
From my perspective why not consider it a planet? It may not have "orbital dominance," but Pluto does have three satellites of its own (Charon, Nix, and Hydra) - why not just grandfather it as a planet and be done with it?
South Carolina - too small to be its own country, too big to be a mental asylum.
SlamClick From United States, joined Nov 2003, 9934 posts, RR: 72 Reply 15, posted (2 years 2 months 4 weeks 22 hours ago) and read 742 times:
Quoting 2H4 (Reply 10): Hey, times are tough and oil prices are high. If the solar system hadn't been downsized to improve efficiency, chapter 11 would have been the only option.
I blame management.
You may still expect the retirement plan to be scrapped!
* * *
"Never go to Pluto, It's a Mickey Mouse Planet"
Robin Williams as Mork
Mhodgson From United Kingdom (England), joined Dec 2002, 4950 posts, RR: 24 Reply 16, posted (2 years 2 months 4 weeks 22 hours ago) and read 742 times:
What about my mnemonic?
My
Very
Easy
Method
Just
Speeds
Up
Naming
Planets
What am I supposed to do now?
No trees were harmed by this message. However, several million electrons were terribly inconvenienced
AerospaceFan From , joined Dec 1969, posts, RR: Reply 17, posted (2 years 2 months 4 weeks 22 hours ago) and read 737 times:
By the way, NASA's New Horizons space probe may become the first and only spacecraft ever to have been launched toward a planet that ended up at a Kuiper Belt Object -- Pluto.
Regardless of that, I look forward to seeing New Horizon reach Pluto in years hence, if for nothing else than nostalgia's sake.
Come to think of it, it may be a greater honor for a spacecraft to visit a Kuiper Belt Object for the very first time -- that, and Charon, another such object, too! After all, visiting planets is so 2006.
CastleIsland From , joined Dec 1969, posts, RR: Reply 19, posted (2 years 2 months 4 weeks 22 hours ago) and read 728 times:
Quoting Garnetpalmetto (Reply 14): From my perspective why not consider it a planet? It may not have "orbital dominance," but Pluto does have three satellites of its own (Charon, Nix, and Hydra) - why not just grandfather it as a planet and be done with it?
Because science is based on models constructed from theory and observation, not sentimentality. Pluto does not fit the model parameters for being a planet. It's not like Pluto is offended.
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