Posted on 08/25/2006 10:52:01 AM PDT by neverdem
Dwarfs will be out to protest this ruling...
"Solar System Shrinks - Smallest Planets Hardest Hit"
Does anyone know whether this body's vote will effect science textbooks, or what NASA recognizes as a planet?
Pluto was voted off the solar system...
Not to mention angry Plutonians.......imagine how they must feel losing planetary status.
Entitlements are really expected to last forever....aren't they???

shucks!
I don't know about NASA, but all current textbooks are probably obsolete.
No, but it might affect them. ;->
or what NASA recognizes as a planet?
I don't see why NASA would need it's own classification system. It's a rock with a certain orbit, they don't care what you call it.
This means that NASA has visited ALL the planets, now.
What about the element Plutonium? Surely, it will go nuclear once it hears the news.
The news out of Pluto is that they refuse to leave the solar system and will remain in orbit as an "undocumented planet".
Pluto is exactly what it used to be. This is just the not too frequent deck chair shuffle.
Should there be more Pluto threads than there are planets? If so, there are already 250 extrasolar planets, none of which will be demoted to puny-body-not-even-dreaming-of-being-a-planet-some-day, so we need to increase our Pluto thread posting diligence.
NASA doesn't see planets but projects needing funding.
I guess astronomy isn't any different.
What I meant by my question is kind of along the lines of... every few months, some group releases a study showing that coffee is "bad" for you. Then a few months after that, another group says it is "good" for you. The conflicting studies are endless.
What is to keep another group from releasing a statement that Pluto *is* a planet? I suspect that is exactly what will occur, and most people will continue to refer to Pluto as the 9th planet.
I've always subscribed to theory that Pluto was a Neptune moon that somehow fell out of its orbit.
Since I discovered the 1967 UN Outer Space Treaty I have known there are no planets or anything else out there except Celestial Bodies that may not be exploited for financial gain. Turns out the highest and best use of planets is astrology after all.
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