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TweetAstronomers Vote to Strip Pluto of Planetary Status
Thursday , August 24, 2006
PRAGUE, Czech Republic — Leading astronomers declared Thursday that Pluto is no longer a planet under historic new guidelines that downsize the solar system from nine planets to eight.
After a tumultuous week of clashing over the essence of the cosmos, the International Astronomical Union stripped Pluto of the planetary status it has held since its discovery in 1930.
The new definition of what is — and isn't — a planet fills a centuries-old black hole for scientists who have labored since Copernicus without one.
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Although astronomers applauded after the vote, Jocelyn Bell Burnell — a specialist in neutron stars from Northern Ireland who oversaw the proceedings — urged those who might be "quite disappointed" to look on the bright side.
"It could be argued that we are creating an umbrella called 'planet' under which the dwarf planets exist," she said, drawing laughter by waving a stuffed Pluto of Walt Disney fame beneath a real umbrella.
The decision by the prestigious international group spells out the basic tests that celestial objects will have to meet before they can be considered for admission to the elite cosmic club.
For now, membership will be restricted to the eight "classical" planets in the solar system: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune.
Much-maligned Pluto doesn't make the grade under the new rules for a planet: "a celestial body that is in orbit around the sun, has sufficient mass for its self-gravity to overcome rigid body forces so that it assumes a ... nearly round shape, and has cleared the neighborhood around its orbit."
Pluto is automatically disqualified because its oblong orbit overlaps with Neptune's.
Instead, it will be reclassified in a new category of "dwarf planets," similar to what long have been termed "minor planets."
The definition also lays out a third class of lesser objects that orbit the sun — "small solar system bodies," a term that will apply to numerous asteroids, comets and other natural satellites.
It was unclear how Pluto's demotion might affect the mission of NASA's New Horizons spacecraft, which earlier this year began a 9½-year journey to the oddball object to unearth more of its secrets.
The decision at a conference of 2,500 astronomers from 75 countries was a dramatic shift from just a week ago, when the group's leaders floated a proposal that would have reaffirmed Pluto's planetary status and made planets of its largest moon and two other objects.
That plan proved highly unpopular, splitting astronomers into factions and triggering days of sometimes combative debate that led to Pluto's undoing.
Now, two of the objects that at one point were cruising toward possible full-fledged planethood will join Pluto as dwarfs: the asteroid Ceres, which was a planet in the early 19th century before it also got demoted, and 2003 UB313, an icy object slightly larger than Pluto whose discoverer, Michael Brown of the California Institute of Technology, has nicknamed "Xena."
Charon, the largest of Pluto's three moons, is no longer under consideration for any special designation.
Brown was pleased by the decision. He had argued that Pluto and similar bodies didn't deserve planet status, saying that would "take the magic out of the solar system."
"UB313 is the largest dwarf planet. That's kind of cool," he said.
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TweetThey should start with Evolution since they have no proof of it! Anything that is 'theory' should not be taught as fact!Originally Posted by TestRip7
Tweetdidn't we just discover another new planet. Now we're taking one away, so that makes 9 still! What does it matter of the size of the planet? If it's a planet and in our solar system, then it should be considered a planet, I guess size matters to these weirdos. So where are we at now...8, 9, or 10? lol
TweetActually, it will be 12 but 4 will be dwarf planets. They are going to make Pluto, Pluto's moon (Charon), some asteroid (Ceres) that is next to Jupiter and one past Pluto (2003 UB313) all dwarf planets, or Plutons. The new definition will call anything of substanial size that is round and that orbits the sun a planet. However, if the item is a satilite to another planet, our moon for example, it won't count. So, any large asteroids that get caught in our sun's gravitational pull and begins to orbit it will become a dwarf planet. One scientist, the one who discovered the planet past Pluto (2003 UB313), thinks it's stupid because there will end up being like 53 planets with all the large round asteroids that orbit the sun that are known of today. But, who am I to say what should be what?Originally Posted by VveTTe917
TweetPoor little Pluto never stood a chance....
rip
TweetThe new planet is called Xena
Tweet(Anyone who's seen an episode of ALF will get this one)
What about Dave and Alvin?
TweetWhat a crock of s#it that is ! why do we have to keep changing things all the time ? cant we just leave things alone ? no wonder us ol' f#cks are feeling old. everythings being taken over by conveinence in some way or another ! All I can say is have at it,..and dont be surprised when ya all are explaining to you childeren as well as we,.."yep, those where the good ol' days"...
Leaders did what others weren't willing to do, now they enjoy the things that others do not.
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