... and then there were eight.

[jseal]

Astronomers at the International Astronomical Union's general assembly voted today to strip Pluto of its status as a planet!

Farewell Pluto! We hardly knew thee... :(

[wyndhy]

it's odd...not the ruling so much but that i have to un-learn something now.

my very excellent mother just showed us .... what, what did she show us?

[Pita]

:wave:

[Fangtasia]

Why are they doing that?

[wyndhy]

^^cause the international astronomical union has finally come up with a definition for planet and pluto just didn't meet all the criteria.

[rockintime]

Does this mean Disney deletes one cartoon character also?

[Jude30]

So that means Charon didn't make the cut either then. Do you happen to know which of the criteria it missed?

[jseal]

Jude30,

Yes sir, to qualify as a planet:

1. it must be in orbit around the Sun
2. it must be large enough that it takes on a nearly round shape
3. it has cleared its orbit of other objects

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/5282440.stm

[Lilith]

How can I teach My Very Educated Mother Just Showed Us Nine Pizzas with no damn pizzas????

[dicksbro]

The article said, "Pluto was automatically disqualified because its highly elliptical orbit overlaps with that of Neptune. It will now join a new category of dwarf planets."

Hmmmm, since Neptune didn't get rid of Pluto, does that mean it's status is in question? :confused:

:roflmao:


I suspect the ice creatures on Pluto really don't care since they long ago figured out that intelligent life couldn't survive the heat of the inner planets. :rolleyes2

[Mercury_Maniac]

for me their will always be 9 planets

[Aqua]

I want my pizza dammit!

[Oldfart]

Hmm.

With all the debris in their orbits (moons), all except Mercury and Venus are now in doubt. They all have clouds of crap locked in their orbits at the trojan points.

We've known for a long time that Pluto was a Kuiper body, a left-over fragment from the time the Solar System took it's shape, but it's still treated as a planet.

Astronomical correctness gone wild, if you ask me (please do).

[scotzoidman]

My understanding of the reclassification is that with all the little Pluto-sized rocks being discovered with the new technology available, it was just a matter of time before we have to remember hundreds, or maybe even thousands of planets...so the question would be either demote Pluto or elevate a ton of cosmic debris to planetary status...
When I was a kid in science class, I thought it was cool that someone had only recently (in terms of human history) discovered a new planet, & that with ever-advancing technology I would probably live to see more discoveries...ironically, the new tech just showed how common & inconsequential Pluto really is...next we'd have to start naming the asteroids...

[Scarecrow]

Sorry I ate the Pizza :corn:

[Jude30]

The deal with Charon I guess is that if Pluto would have been called a planet it would have to also been called a planet. I'm not an astronomer but if I remember correctly Charon for a long time was considered Pluto's moon but in reality they both orbit each other. They spin around a point in space equidistant from each other so one does not actually orbit the other. And it is true that Pluto's orbit is eliptical making it so that at times it's actually closer to the sun the Uranus.

[wyndhy]

my anus is nowhere near the sun.

*snicker*

[LixyChick]

^^^ She beat me to it!

How bout this instead...

I've been told, the sun shines out uranus"! I just handed him sunglasses and told him to get back to work!


But anyway...Dear Pluto, I shall miss including you!

But to be truthful I tend to agree with updating/upgrading teminology as we evolve and learn more about the world[s] around us. I don't like going by antiquated rules/laws/terms/legends...etc. Tis the reason I don't agree with biblical stuff! Now that's OLD!

[scotzoidman]

I read online (& wish now that I had copied & pasted the link) about the reaction of Pluto discoverer Clyde Tombaugh's widow as being "shook up" but not really upset. Comments by others who knew & worked with him said that he saw this coming (when he died in 1997, the debate had already started) & wasn't happy about it, but would have accepted it...it shows that science is not static, new facts come in & how we see the universe has to be reshaped constantly...no one alive now would remember, but I would bet good money that in 1930 there were some who refused to accept that there was a ninth planet, after all 8 planets had been good enough for centuries...

As to the question of whether Neptune should also be counted out because of Pluto in its path, they have a special footnote in the ratified document that covers the issue...