'Tenth Planet' found to be a whopper
Large size of 2003 UB313 fuels debate over what is and isn't a planet.
http://www.nature.com/news/2006/060130/full/060130-7.html
I need to snag a pic..
And it appears to have a moon, too:
http://www.gps.caltech.edu/~mbrown/planetlila/moon/index.html
My
Very
Earnest
Mother
Just
Served
Us
Nine
Pizza Pies!
There CAN'T be a 10th planet!
 |
"To Pluto And Far Beyond" By David H. Levy, Parade, January 15, 2006 -- We don't have a dictionary definition yet that includes all the contingencies. In the wake of the new discovery, however, the International Astronomical Union has set up a group to develop a workable definition of planet. For our part, in consultation with several experienced planetary astronomers, Parade offers this definition: A planet is a body large enough that, when it formed, it condensed under its own gravity to be shaped like a sphere. It orbits a star directly and is not a moon of another planet. |
Astronomers Find a New Planet in Solar System (all such topics listed)
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1453462/posts?page=61#61
I propose either:
Brown's Planet
or
Mike's.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1453462/posts?page=82#82
They'll have to start re-writing the Astrology books too!
Pluto is (I think) about 27 per cent the size of Mike's.
http://www.gomath.com/algebra/sphere.php
3391066811.05 (volume of Pluto)
divided by:
12223210632.82 (volume of Mike's)
equals:
.27742848527
So we have to settle on either 8 or 10 planets? Do we get larger galactic block grants if we claim more planets?
(image width set to 600, actual is wider)
http://www.gps.caltech.edu/~mbrown/planetlila/
How will the planetary status be decided?
The above gives my personal view on how to resolve the planetary status. The official decision will come from the International Astronomical Union. We had hoped for a timely decision but we instead appear to be stuck in committee limbo. Here is the story, as best I can reconstruct it from the hints and rumors that I hear:
• A special committee of the International Astronomical Union (IAU) was charged with determining "what is a planet."
• Sometime around the end of 2005, this committee voted by a narrow margin for the "pluto and everything bigger" definition, or something close to it.
• The exectutive committee of the IAU then decided to ask the Division of Planetary Sciences (DPS) of the American Astronomical Society to make a reccomendation.
• The DPS asked their committee to look in to it.
• The DPS committee decided to form a special committee.
• Rumor has emerged that when the IAU general assembly meets in August in Prauge they willl make a decision on how to make a final decision!
So when do we expect a decision? Back in August 2005 I used to joke that the IAU was so slow they might take until 2006 before deciding. That was supposed to be a joke. Now I joke that I hope there is a decision by the time my daughter starts grade school and learns about planets in class. She is currently 7 months old.
related:
Far-out worlds, just waiting to be found
New Scientist | 23 July 2005 (issue date) | Stuart Clark
Posted on 07/20/2005 10:54:18 PM PDT by SunkenCiv
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1447339/posts
Giant Kuiper Belt planetoid Sedna may have formed far beyond Pluto
Physics Org (http://www.physorg.com/)
January 24, 2005 | Southwest Research Institute
Posted on 10/22/2005 1:05:39 PM PDT by SunkenCiv
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/chat/1507383/posts
Mysterious deep-space object raises questions on Solar System's origins
PhysOrg | December 13, 2005 | AFP
Posted on 12/14/2005 10:12:29 AM PST by SunkenCiv
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1540338/posts
