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-- The Universe Has Been Downsized!!!!!!!!
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The Universe Has Been Downsized!!!!!!!!
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Pluto demoted; we're now down to 8 planets August 24, 2006 By WILLIAM J. KOLE PRAGUE, Czech Republic �X 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 �X and isn��t �X 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 �X a specialist in neutron stars from Northern Ireland who oversaw the proceedings �X 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. Experts said there could be dozens of dwarf planets catalogued across the solar system in the next few years. ��Many more Plutos wait to be discovered,�� added Richard Binzel, a professor of planetary science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. 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 �X ��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. In the end, only about 300 astronomers cast ballots. 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. |
oh that's what colbert was talking about.
this is acutally huge news.
that episode of Saved by the Bell where Zack had to remember the planets has to be re written now.
Thanks for ruining my day Lars...it was all good up until now 
I need to leave early from work...I can't handle this 
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| Originally posted by *~LiSa-LoO~* Thanks for ruining my day Lars...it was all good up until now I need to leave early from work...I can't handle this |
OMG! No Pluto anymore! WTF is going on! That's terrible!
Now that universe is downsized, let's hope everyone else doesn't supersize!
And here I was, thinking that the universe extended beyond the realms of our Solar system.
[flip desk]--F THIS WORLD!!
I still think they should grandfather clause Pluto...
Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!
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| Originally posted by Cosmic Fur And here I was, thinking that the universe extended beyond the realms of our Solar system. |
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| Originally posted by StereoPrincess this is acutally huge news. that episode of Saved by the Bell where Zack had to remember the planets has to be re written now. |
...But the list of planets could grow by up to 12 possibly.
More objects are likely to be announced as planets in the future. The IAU (International Astronomical Union) has a "watchlist" of at least a dozen other potential candidates that could become planets once more is known about their sizes and orbits.
These include the distant objects Sedna, Orcus, Quaoar and 2003 EL61 and the asteroids Vesta, Pallas and Hygiea.
Oh that's bullshit, where the hell are these other PLANET X things we've been hearing about for like 15 years and that astronomers seem to find every 52.7 seconds?
I'm waiting for the planet Vulva.
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| Originally posted by VERTiG0 I'm waiting for the planet Vulva. |
I heard this on the news today at work! Shocked. I love when crazy stuff like this gets decided. So exciting!
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| Originally posted by StereoPrincess that episode of Saved by the Bell where Zack had to remember the planets has to be re written now. |
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| Originally posted by Stingray LOL I thought the same thing when I saw this on the news at work. |
wow thats a pretty f-in big move. does it really make a difference??
pluto was my favourite planet.
all elementary school for space stuff i did projects on it.
now it gone.
stupid smart scientists and their changes.
ok Lisa's msn name now makes sense.
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| Originally posted by Irishaddict ok Lisa's msn name now makes sense. |
awwwwwwwwwwwwww *hugs*
I think everyone has a sore spot for Pluto and I do big time.
Poor Pluto.
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| Originally posted by Cosmic Fur And here I was, thinking that the universe extended beyond the realms of our Solar system. |
So sad, so sad...
Bah...I don't care what these freakin' astronomers say...
Pluto will always be a planet to me 
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