Posted on 09/08/2008 7:24:31 PM PDT by SunkenCiv
...planetary scientist Mark Sykes... director of the Planetary Science Institute headquartered in Tucson, Ariz., is one of many scientists calling for a definition of the word "planet" other than the IAU definition. A planet in the solar system, the IAU says, must: orbit the sun; have enough gravity to make it nearly round; and have gobbled up or sent packing any objects found in its orbit. A dwarf planet, under IAU rules, is not a planet. The IAU says a dwarf planet orbits the sun, is not a satellite, has enough mass to make itself nearly round and has not booted objects from its orbit. But how can a dwarf of something not be considered one of that thing? Sykes asked... He is selecting the part of the IAU definition that he finds useful, arguing that a planet is anything that orbits a star, doesn't fuse elements in its core and has enough internal gravity to be nearly round. Those criteria would make Ceres a planet. It would remake Pluto one too. There would be at least 13 planets in the solar system with many more, possibly thousands to come, he said. The thousands would lie in the Kuiper Belt, the ring of planet-like chunks of rock and ice in Pluto's neighborhood.
(Excerpt) Read more at sciencenews.org ...
POSSIBLE PLANETS -- Ceres (top) is thought of as a planet to some and Vesta (bottom) could be too. The International Astronomical Union does not define the two asteroids or even Pluto as a planet, but planetary scientists are pushing to perhaps have the organization change that idea. Vesta: NASA, ESA, L. McFadden, J.Y. Li, M. Mutchler, Z. Levay, P. Thomas, J. Parker, E.F. Young, C.T. Russell, B. Schmidt Ceres: NASA, ESA, J. Parker, P. Thomas, L. McFadden, M. Mutchler, Z. Levay
I’m totally against it. It would be like making Switzerland and Luxembourg permanent members of the UN. It would be like making Rhode Island a state!
Never mind.
The Great (and Sometimes Serious) Debate About Pluto
LiveScience | August 15, 2008 | Jeanna Bryner
Posted on 08/17/2008 10:16:27 AM PDT by SunkenCiv
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2063324/posts
also found on Space.com:
http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/080805-st-planet-debate.html
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"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. | |
| The artist's concept gives a view of the Pluto system from the surface of Nix or Hydra, two of its moons discovered in 2005. Nix and Hydra are two to three times farther from Pluto than its large moon, Charon (to the right of Pluto), which was discovered in 1978. Credit: NASA, ESA and G. Bacon (STScI). |  |
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;’)
I think that planets should be able to self identify. Being designated a dwarf planet might be damaging to the planet’s self-esteem. Unless, of course, the planet sees itself as a dwarf planet and is more comfortable aligning itself with other dwarf planets.
Pluto will always be a planet.
You can’t change the designation just because a bunch of Euro-weenies and intellectuals say different. They are the same people who believe in man-made globaal warming.
We think alike. :’)
It would be like making a community organizer from Illinois with little experience a US Senator ... oh. Never mind...
Well, it is the dawning of the age of aquarius...
Yeah, I don’t know why the new rule can’t be applied to future discoveries, but Pluto couldn’t just be grandfathered in. They are being too picky about applying the rule completely consistently, and there is really no good reason.
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