[Planet_EN]

Planet or Not, Pluto Now Has Far-Out Rival

Add a tenth planet to the solar system - or possibly subtract one.

Astronomers announced yesterday that they had found a lump of rock and ice that was larger than Pluto and the farthest known object in the solar system. The discovery will probably rekindle debate over the definition of "planet" and whether Pluto still merits the designation.

The new object - as yet unnamed, but temporarily known as 2003 UB313 - is now 9 billion miles away from the Sun, or 97 times as far away as Earth and about three times Pluto's current distance from the Sun. Its 560-year elliptical orbit brings it as close as 3.3 billion miles. Pluto's orbit ranges from 2.7 billion miles to 4.6 billion.

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Well, I'm in favour of subtraction, but lets see...

[Zenbone]

I vote we name it Carl.

[Hugi]

Originally Posted by Zenbone

I vote we name it Carl.

My vote is for "BHA"

[residentEvil]

Bruce

[brapper]

Originally Posted by residentEvil

Bruce

After me?

[lavar78]

Following the pattern of (most of) the other planets, it should be named Proserpina. Not only was she the wife of Pluto, but her name means "to emerge." There is an asteroid with the name already, so perhaps they should use her Greek counterpart (Persephone). Barring that, Minerva (Athena) is probably the most important mythological deity without her own planet.

[MallyMal]

Whatever it is I got dibs on it.

[jcadam]

Pluto isn't a planet, IMHO. Some of the moons of Jupiter and Saturn are far more "planet-like" than Pluto.

[Zenbone]

There were astrologers a long time ago predicting this and wanted it named Vulcan, ancient god of fire. (Nothing to do with star trek.)

[TailsToo]

Vulcan was supposed to be closer to the Sun than Earth is. Not the same planet.

[lavar78]

Originally Posted by Zenbone

There were astrologers a long time ago predicting this and wanted it named Vulcan, ancient god of fire. (Nothing to do with star trek.)

Yeah, but that makes very little sense considering it must be pretty cold out there. Also, doesn't that imply a relationship to Venus that isn't there? I'd rather have Janus (implying this planet is a doorway to the outer reaches of the solar system) than Vulcan.

I have no problem calling Pluto a planet.

[Lateralus]

Planet Beavis.

[Planet_EN]

Originally Posted by Hugi

My vote is for "BHA"

Well, I suggest to name it: "Aemonistcamp"

[mdc]

i suggest "Bob"

[bradoesch]

Originally Posted by Hugi

My vote is for "BHA"

Then maybe a name change to "LAW" in a little while.

[ghporter]

Originally Posted by mdc

i suggest "Bob"

Beat me to it!

Anyway, Pluto is a planet because it orbits the Sun and is of a regular shape-it even has a moon. This tenth body ALSO orbits the Sun-though it is so far out it will take a bazillion years to do so-so it's a planet too.

[nonhuman]

Originally Posted by ghporter

Beat me to it!

Anyway, Pluto is a planet because it orbits the Sun and is of a regular shape-it even has a moon. This tenth body ALSO orbits the Sun-though it is so far out it will take a bazillion years to do so-so it's a planet too.

But comets orbit the sun too. As do Kuiper Belt objects and Oort Cloud objects. So is it just the shape of an object that determines if something is a planet? Shape and size?

[ghporter]

Note that I mentioned a "regular shape" as opposed to a weird sort of potato shape that's common with comets. Pluto is in fact a rocky body that is just about spherical (much like Earth or Mars in that respect), but it's so bloody far out that it's hard to get much detail, even from probes because so little light falls on Pluto.

Astronomers are arm-wrestling over what constitutes a "planet" for a long, long time, and this tenth body will just make them arm-wrestle all the harder.

[Salty]

Originally Posted by nonhuman

But comets orbit the sun too. As do Kuiper Belt objects and Oort Cloud objects. So is it just the shape of an object that determines if something is a planet? Shape and size?

This is the problem when we try and name things then get anal about it...

[Zenbone]

Originally Posted by Salty

<...> get anal about it...

What else is there to do on an internet forum?

[lavar78]

Originally Posted by Zenbone

What else is there to do on an internet forum?

Talk about Uranus?

Sorry.

[olePigeon]

Originally Posted by brapper

After me?

No. We should name them all Bruce, to avoid confusion.

[olePigeon]

Originally Posted by TailsToo

Vulcan was supposed to be closer to the Sun than Earth is. Not the same planet.

Vulcan was supposed to be between Earth and Mars.

[Randman]

Actually it should be either 8 planets or 11. You are forgetting the recently discovered Sedna, which is larger than Pluto. Technically, the three could be classified as planetoids, or even moons.

[Planet_EN]

Originally Posted by Randman

Actually it should be either 8 planets or 11. You are forgetting the recently discovered Sedna, which is larger than Pluto. Technically, the three could be classified as planetoids, or even moons.

Agreed.

[me. dont like? dont care]

i take it none of you are still in school then, i had the whole ss thing a few weeks ago and there is a tenth planet, its called....damn cant remember but it starts with an s

[Randman]

You don't read very well, do you? I mentioned it in my post above. Sedna.

[SimpleLife]

Railroad is right, of course. Sedna.

This has been posted already last year IIRC.

[Randman]

Originally Posted by SimpleLife

Railroad is right, of course. Sedna.

This has been posted already last year IIRC.

Railroad?


Sedna was mentioned when it was discovered. The latest discovery is a new one.

So, do people prefer 8 planets or 11+ planets? I prefer the extra planets since I met and talked with Clyde Tombaugh back at NMSU.

[Planet_EN]

mwahaha ... everyone has gone mad except Randman.

[SimpleLife]

Originally Posted by Randman

Railroad?


Sedna was mentioned when it was discovered. The latest discovery is a new one.

So, do people prefer 8 planets or 11+ planets? I prefer the extra planets since I met and talked with Clyde Tombaugh back at NMSU.

My apologies Randman. I guess I had some stars stuck in my vision field...

[ghporter]

Originally Posted by Planet_EN

mwahaha ... everyone has gone mad except Randman.

No...I've gone mildly ticked off, but not mad.

[mdc]

Originally Posted by ghporter

Beat me to it!

Off Topic (and minor Titan A.E spoiler):
Have you seen the animated movie Titan A.E? I loved the ending

[zizban]

This new object is larger than pluto and further out, so by definition, if Pluto is a plnet, so is this new object. If you don't want it to be the 10th planet, then you have to change the definition.

Personally, I go with what Jeffry Macy usggested as a defintion for a planet: An object is a planet if it is round in shape and orbits in the sun in an orbit clear of debris left over from it's birth. This would keep Pluto a planet but also add Sedna and a few other Kuiper Belt objects but would exclude Ceres.

[mitchell_pgh]

It's interesting stuff. I say we keep the nine planets and just accept that the definition is flawed.

[residentEvil]

or use an *. hell it works for sports. ****wads.

[turtle777]

Originally Posted by ghporter

it will take a bazillion years to do so-so .

560 years, to be precise.

-t

[Scandalous Ion Cannon]

This is the worst line ever:

"The find should further stuff up modern astrologers - they still have not got the hang of Uranus"

http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=25031

[ghporter]

Originally Posted by turtle777

560 years, to be precise.

-t

So in practical terms, a bazillion is a bit of an exageration. Ok, howabout a "buttload" of years?

[turtle777]

Originally Posted by ghporter

So in practical terms, a bazillion is a bit of an exageration. Ok, howabout a "buttload" of years?

Yeah, you are right. It's just a "buttload" of years and some change...

-t

[RAILhead]

I say we name it n00b.

[turtle777]

Originally Posted by RAILhead

I say we name it n00b.

I dunno. It's probably been around for a while. At least longer than any of us

-t

[macaddict0001]

Originally Posted by jcadam

Pluto isn't a planet, IMHO. Some of the moons of Jupiter and Saturn are far more "planet-like" than Pluto.

yeah but they don't orbit stars.

imo if it has orbited our sun and has enough gravity to hold things against any reasonable amount of force that may try to pull them apart it can be considered a planet in out system.

[undotwa]

Originally Posted by macaddict0001

yeah but they don't orbit stars.

imo if it has orbited our sun and has enough gravity to hold things against any reasonable amount of force that may try to pull them apart it can be considered a planet in out system.

Pluto actually spends part of its orbit in Neptune. To me, it is really a large comet.

[lavar78]

Originally Posted by undotwa

Pluto actually spends part of its orbit in Neptune. To me, it is really a large comet.

At no time is Pluto orbiting Neptune. Sometimes Pluto is closer to the sun than Neptune is, but they're both orbiting the sun at all times.

[OogaBooga]

Originally Posted by lavar78

At no time is Pluto orbiting Neptune. Sometimes Pluto is closer to the sun than Neptune is, but they're both orbiting the sun at all times.

I thought everyone knew this. Hopefully they'll collide one day

[undotwa]

Originally Posted by lavar78

At no time is Pluto orbiting Neptune. Sometimes Pluto is closer to the sun than Neptune is, but they're both orbiting the sun at all times.

Yes, I was mistaken.

[zizban]

Originally Posted by OogaBooga

I thought everyone knew this. Hopefully they'll collide one day

Pluto is inclined 18 degree to the plane of the solar system, where all planets, including Neptune, orbit, thus they will never collide. The closest they get is 6 AU.

[Planet_EN]

Well, another interesting article came out today:

Too Many Planets Numb the Mind

When a Caltech astronomer, Michael Brown, announced last year that his team had found a distant object three-fourths the size of Pluto orbiting the Sun, he declined to call it a planet, and he even suggested that Pluto should not be considered a planet either. There was, he said, just no good scientific rationale for considering either of those distant bodies in the same league as the eight indisputable planets that circle the Sun at closer range.

Now Dr. Brown has found something orbiting the Sun that's bigger than Pluto and even farther away. He's changed his mind and proposed that Pluto keep its designation, and that the new object, an extremely big lump of ice and rock, should also be deemed a planet. There is still no good scientific rationale for the judgment, he admitted, but this is a case where habit - 75 years of calling Pluto a planet - should trump any scientific definition.

There is no real debate that the four terrestrial planets - Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars - and the four gaseous giants - Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune - deserve their status as planets. But scientists have long been uneasy about including Pluto, an icy ball smaller than our Moon, whose orbit is more eccentric than the others and tilts in a different plane.

Try as they might, scientists could not come up with a definition that would retain Pluto as a planet without requiring that scads of other objects be deemed planets as well. Nor could they satisfy the legions of space enthusiasts who remain certain from their grade school lessons that there are nine planets - no more, no less.

So now Dr. Brown proposes that scientists give up the battle and accept a cultural definition of what a planet is. It's either the nine planets we learned about in grade school, or those nine plus any new-found object orbiting the Sun that turns out to be bigger than Pluto. He opts for the latter approach on the theory that most people, deep down, accept that definition. This definition would also, of course, qualify Dr. Brown for the historical footnotes as the discoverer of a new planet.

Our own preference is to take a cleaner way out by dropping Pluto from the planetary ranks. Scientists may well discover many more ice balls bigger than Pluto, and it's a safe bet that few in our culture want to memorize the names of 20 or more planets. Far better to downgrade Pluto to the status of an icy sphere that was once mistakenly deemed a planet because we had not yet discovered its compatriots on the dark fringes of the solar system.

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/02/op...html?th&emc=th