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New 'Planet' Discovered in Solar System
Greyfox writes: "This USA Today story tells us that astronomers have discovered a puny little "planet" between Neptune and Pluto. Significantly larger than your average asteroid, it falls just shy of qualifying as being planet sized." Plutino?
There goes the neighborhood.
Plutolein
Pluto-chan
Plutette
More?
The illegal we do immediately. The unconstitutional takes a little longer.
--Henry Kissinger
... a planetoid?
Kierthos
Mr. Hu is not a ninja.
Maybe it's the dreaded "Planet of the Apes"!
Waitaminute.. Statue of Liberty... that was our planet! You MANIACS!!! YOU BLEW IT UP!! DAMN YOU ALL TO HELL!!
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It's only cartman's ass.
--- Metamoderating abusive downgraders since my 300th post.
Why did it take them so long to find it? I'm thinking independance day. It's really an alien ship bent on destroying the earth, and they are trying to cover it up. Run while you can!!!
aw wait, that excellent name is already taken. I guess I could live with the name "Planet Who-Cares".
"I can only show you Linux... you're the one who has to read the man pages."
Seriously. Let's say you're in a solar system with twelve major planets, but two of them are airless, have less effect than asteroids and meteors, and pretty much are only found when you look really hard for them.
Are they planets? Or just statistical anomolies intended to distract us from sending extrasolar probes to avoid the inevitable destruction of this solar system? Because, if we don't get out of the solar system, human life is an historical footnote in the history of the universe, a leaf fluttering from a tree in a vast and empty forest, which falls and decomposes with noone ever seeing it.
Will in Seattle
I wonder if it came out of Uranus? :)
-----
If Bill Gates had a nickel for every time Windows crashed...
Maybe it can be used as a kind of gas station, or as a prison, or as a scientific station for radio telescopes (it's outside heliosphere)...
-- javaDragon is an instance of JavaDragon.
You think they'd notice it sooner if it's "just shy of planet sized". Yea, something else for our kids to memorize in elementary school!
Hoora!
..that is no planet, that is an alien space ship...hiding.
So what happened to planet X that was in the news so many years ago?
Does the gravity of EB173 account for the unseen mass on that end of the solar system?
planetoid?
--
Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know when your gonna get food poisoning.
I am not an astronomer/astrophysicist, but, maybe its this, or other large asteroids that gives pluto/neptune (i dont remember which) it's weird orbit. Perhaps one of these big asteroids struck one of the planets as the large asteroids moved around?
Yay! Now they can have one more sailor senshi on Sailor Moon!
Or not...
BBK
Well, there's supposedly a brown dwarf out there. It used to be called "Nemesis" since it was supposed to kill us all in a blaze of displaced comets and the terror and the ow ow ow it hurts me, but that seems unlikely now apparently.
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According to the article this large rock falls short of the defenition of a planet. Shoot some people don't consider pluto a planet. If we call every large rock in the solar system a planet then there is a good chance there a dozens perhaps hundreds of planets out there. Yea think 3.6 billion is far, I wouldn't be surpised if they start finding "planets" 50 billion out there Still I like the idea of there be more planets out there.
guvf vf zl fvt
It's a Death Star!
09 F9 11 02 9D 74 E3 5B D8 41 56 C5 63 56 88 C0
it was bound to happen. time to sew another star into the flag...
wait a minute...
The only thing this discovery will do for the scientific community is allow us to make sure that our toy space probes don't wrap themselves around it.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that it isn't neet, but really, it dosn't have much to offer. Couldn't we be spending our space research resources in a better way, like say researching dark matter?
just my $.02
---
Desperation is a stinky cologne
That's no planet... ...it's a space station!
Fear the power of NTie!
Broadly, the IAU group agrees that a planet should independently orbit a star, possess enough gravity to shape itself into a sphere and weigh at least 100,000 billion billion grams. EB173 just misses the last mark, Boss says.
Judging by this definition, earth's moon should be considered a planet. It is easily massive enough, and it has greater gravitational attraction to the sun than it does to the earth.
A planet which shares the same orbit as the earth, sure, but still a planet.
Tarsnap: Online backups for the truly paranoid
For that matter, is Pluto even a planet?
Got Rhinos?
Don't get me wrong. I mean, I think it's cool that there's a really big rock floating out there and someone spotted it. But if anyone out there understands this and can explain better, please do.
"This message is composed of 100% recycled electrons."
Dingleberry
***General Consultant to the Human Race*** My opinions are free. You get what you pay for.
"This message is composed of 100% recycled electrons."
This theory has been known as one possibility among several ever since; it was not "discovered" by later astronomers as most textbooks would have us believe. Sure, mathematics and, later, telescopes helped to prove it correct, but the idea was current long before.
Decentralization: the brief interval between the decline of one centralized regime and rise of another.
Here're some clear images of EB173 captured by the Fort Bend Astronomy Club. It seems they imaged it without necessarily knowing EB173's significance at the time.
And while I'm at it, here's a considerably grainier shot taken at the Klet observatory.
-- Anne Marie
The actual paper discussed in the article can be found here .
-- Anne Marie
I christen thee "Elbow Macaroni"
All kings is mostly rapscallions. -Mark Twain, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
time to sew another star into the flag..
...
Let me get this straight - we should sew on another star and proclaim Planet X.11 as a State of the United States of America and Peurto Rico still isn't even a state yet?
I don't think so
Hey, concept, let's GPL it! Or maybe we can patent it and grant the patent to Linus for a birthday present?
Will in Seattle
It will be called Rupert! And the scientific community will call it Persephone.
And fling it out of the system. Preferably with someone on it. I can think of a few.
Realistically, though, we ought to think about this as another usefull small planet.
There aren't any good, seperate planetoids in the outer areas. So many gas giants, moon, all of that gravitational hassle.
*nifty transformation music*
*nifty psychadelic demi-nudity*
"Linux Planet Power!"
*ribbons*
*less ribbons*
*ooooohhhhh*
"Appearing minutely, I am Sailor Linux!"
"In the name of the God Torvalds I shall..."
-- a. Punish You!
-- b. Chastise You!
-- c. Flash You!
-- d. Integrate You into a Multi-User Developers' Enviroment!
-- e. Shut the #*(@ up and return to non-anime posts because the viewer is bitterly biased about things that don't blink and make buzzing sounds.
Choose.... wisely.
I'm surprised the Douglas Adams fans here haven't jumped all over this one. The obvious choice is 'Rupert'. Okay, it's not beyond the orbit of Pluto, but it's close enough, give or take a few zillion miles.
Ceres = 584 mi
EB173 (Plutino) = 373 mi
Pallas = 365 mi
Vesta = 358 mi
The author of the post missed some words. This objec a planetesimal or _minor_ planet. Yes it may be too small to be called a planet but that mention in the article that "should independently orbit a star" is just ridiculous:
Pluton - Charon - which of them are to be considered to be the planet and the ????
Earth - Moon. Yes it is the Moon that mostly looses in this game. However this stuff is too heavy that it is hard to consider Earth moving "independently" around the Sun. So people we are living in a planetesimal...
Moons from the Jovian planets. One of them seems to be even bigger than Mercury if I'm not mistaken.
And to end. Recently there was some discussion sbout a "wandering planet". Well an object bigger than Jupiter but short of being a star. Wandering away from any star at high speeds. So, according to this article that is not a planet. So what it is? Flash Gordon's Mongo?
The barycenter (center of mass) of the earth-moon system is some 1707 km below Earth's surface. The Earth/Luna mass ratio is larger than any other planet/moon system in our solar system, bar Pluto/Charon, but I wouldn't go so far as to call the moon a planet.
Bottom line, your thesis is based on a faulty assertion. (i.e. Earth and Luna don't revolve around a common point in space - that point is comfortably beneath the earth's surface.)
See this link for greater detail.
-Isaac
I am not a lawyer, and this is not legal advice. For Entertainment Purposes Only.
The odds against that are ... well, astronomical.
Since they do not have the same period and the two ellipseoids cross at two points, its should be a matter of winding the clock up ...to the future, right
Now getting the third body there for the collision would be damned near impossible, but i could conceive a planetary demolition derby being planned for the 2026 4th of July show
Read my plan to save the Bengals
BEN: That's no moon! It's a space station.
LUKE: I have a very bad feeling about this.
BEN: Yeah, I think your right. Full reverse! Chewie, lock in the auxiliary power.
The pirateship shudders and the TIE fighter accelerates away toward the gargantuan battle station.
LUKE: Why are we still moving towards it?
HAN: We're caught in a tractor beam! It's pulling us in!
Oh well, who give a shit
LUKE: But there's gotta be something you can do!
HAN: There's nothin' I can do about it, kid. I'm in full power. I'm going to have to shut down. But they're not going to get me without a fight!
Ben Kenobi puts a hand on his shoulder.
BEN: You can't win. But there are alternatives to fighting.
Pluto? No, don't go there, that's a Mickey Mouse planet!
-- Mork
I'm gonna be a nitpick here and note that your quote is incorect. Here's the lines from the script:
BEN: That's no moon! It's a space station.
HAN: It's too big to be a space station.
LUKE: I have a very bad feeling about this.
BEN: Yeah, I think your right. Full reverse! Chewie, lock in the auxiliary power.
The pirateship shudders and the TIE fighter accelerates away toward the gargantuan battle station.
LUKE: Why are we still moving towards it?
HAN: We're caught in a tractor beam! It's pulling us in!
LUKE: But there's gotta be something you can do!
HAN: There's nothin' I can do about it, kid. I'm in full power. I'm going to have to shut down. But they're not going to get me without a fight!
Ben Kenobi puts a hand on his shoulder.
BEN: You can't win. But there are alternatives to fighting.
This object belongs the the Knuiper Belt a class of objects similiar to asteroids. Pluto is thought to be the largest example of a Knuiper object>.
Only if you count from 2 AD.
If you're a jock, inflict some pain / If you're a nerd then use your brain - DAPHNE AND CELESTE
By that logic surely the planet should be called Minnie.
If we are just finding this now, just think how many extinction sized rocks are out there that can hit earth. The *only* thing that has saved us so far is the vastness of space and low probability. But over time.....
Aide: Grant drinks too much to command an army. Lincoln: Find out what he drinks and give it to my other generals!
Isn't there an object called Chiron which lies in this region of space? Something on the same size category .. Just curious if my mind is flipping out on me..
Planetes
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Planetes
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Pluto Pup!
It's likely someone who has take Astronomy 101 will tell you they learned that today, many people "in the field" believe Pluto falls closer into the category of an asteroid than as a planet. With this new object being smaller than Pluto, there should be no question that this is just an asteroid.
It seems as if many people want there to be a planet X, but in reality chances are quite slim that anything of a substatial (I.E.: planet) size existing beyond Neptune.
You forgot about the third dimension. Pluto's plane of orbit is inclined by 17 degrees to the orbital plane of the other planets. Therefore a collision is not possible.
Lets just blow it up, then we wont have to make the decision on if its a planet. We wont have to name it, and we wont have to change all of those nifty solar system maps.
Douglas Adams already told us what would happen if a new planet were discovered in our Universe. Two things:
1. the planet will be called Rupert
2. astrologists will have to make up some new rules about how to make our horoscopes.
That was the best of the trying-to-be-funny posts :)
__
__
Men with no respect for life must never be allowed to control the ultimate instruments of death.
GW Bu
That's twice you've made this same mistake (after being so nitpicky on other people).
I think HAN (not BEN) is the one who gives in and directs Chewie to lock in the auxilary power.
Not that it really matters at all...
---------------------------------------------
Recursive: Adj. See Recursive.
It's a space station! ;^)
--
Wooden armaments to battle your imaginary foes!
I think the next slashdot poll should be naming for the new "planet" EB173.
Here are some choices from the discussion.
Rupert --Douglas Adams reference
Planet X
Plut* (Plutito, Plutochen, Plutolein, Pluto-chan, Plutette, Plutitia)
Goofy
Natalie Portman
Hemos
These aren't bad, but what are some other good ones?
The moon isn't a planet because it orbits the earth, not a star.
If plutino has enough gravity to be spherical (I understand it does), that should be enough to qualify as a planet. Mini-planet if they insist.
I don't understand why there needs to be a 1quadrillion kg minimum weight requirement.
Yea, something else for our kids to memorize in elementary school!
There goes my little saying to help me remember the planets... My Very Easy Mother Just Served Us Nine Pizza's.... Now what am I supposed to do?
My Very Easy Mother Just Served Us Nine X Pizzas??? It's just not the same!!!
Plutito
en espanol por favor
Wow...finally a slashdot article that allows me to use a hobby of mine that's really obscure! Yay!
Okay, first, this object will probably not be called "Plutino", because that name's already pretty much taken and has been used for a class of objects which astronomers decide are larger than the average asteroid, but smaller than the traditional definition of a planet. They've been discovering plutinos for years now and there's even a circular which goes out in the astronomical community a couple times a year which outlines the information on all the plutinos.
These plutinos, and even Pluto itself, is believed to have come from, or may still be part of a large group of chunks of rock called the Kuiper Belt. This belt rings our solar system just beyond the orbit of Pluto. The important factor influencing these object is the planet Neptune which, because of its orbit, will occasionally pull an object from the Kuiper belt and drag it into the solar system proper. Also, bodies in the Kuiper Belt run into each other, and the collision will send a body into our solar system. This is where astronomers believe Pluto and this new rock may have come from. Astronomers believe that there are even more bodies orbiting more closely than the Kuiper Belt, probably tucked in between the orbits of Neptune and Pluto, and just beyond Pluto.
Beyond the Kuiper Belt is yet another conglomeration of chunks of rock and dust called the Oort Cloud. This also surrounds our solar system and may actually protect us from some of the things that could zip into the system and strike another planet or disrupt things. The Oort Cloud also provides us with debris which will come floating into the solar system from collisions with object in the cloud, or from objects that arrive in the cloud from outside. We don't quite know how large the cloud is, for sure, nor how many objects are in ot, mostly because the cloud doesn't reflect what little light it might get. We make our guesses based on fairly obscure measuring methods. It has been suggested that perhaps the Oort Cloud has a good amount of Dark Matter in it, but that's pretty much conjecture right now.
The upshot of the whole thing is that, the harder we look, the more we find in our own backyard. Our methods of studyign the heavens have gotten more and more sophisticated, and allow us to see smaller objects, orbiting farther away. I, personally, hope that we realize that, as long as we're looking out there anyhow, it wouldn't be a bad idea to look systematically, especially for objects that could pose some sort of threat to our planet directly. The tech is cheap, and what we'd need to build to deal with any intruder that might run into us is also quite cheap. Maybe it's not a bad idea at all.
-Jimmie
But it's about fourteen years too late. I expect the Cybermen will arrive shortly to drain the earth of its precious energy...
Ita erat quando hic adveni.
Now, the mnemonic to remember the order of the planets work any longer. I'll have to change My Very Easy Mother Justifies Sex, Unless Not Paid to something else.
 My Very Easy Mnemonic Just Sucks - Useless Now, Extra Planet.
Phillip Narf a spokesman for the P.C.R.F. said: "The traditionalists are pooh heads. Pluto is the smallest planet, and as such it needs to be called an asteroid". "Nonsense" replied Arnold Dweeb of the traditionalist school "if we call Pluto an asteroid it would be by far the largest asteroid ever discovered, and as such would automatically be promoted to planetary status."
In a related story computer nerds around the world were seen dancing in the streets. A post on Slashdot - the computer nerd news web site explained the jubilation: "Finally we have found a group even more pathetic than we are; at least we could go out at night if we wanted to. And everybody used to say that we needed to get lives."
Hey, that's my secret hideout! The SEP field generator must have failed again.
Revert to default attention re-direction: Move along, nothing to see here.
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A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
I beleive the French call this a Planette
Well, it's only a matter of time before Plutino:
blog |
HAN says this, not BEN.
-l
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BEN: Yeah, I think your right. Full reverse! Chewie, lock in the auxiliary power.
HAN actually says this.
-l
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Here's a take on the Nemesis theory from The Nine Planets.
so, did you moderate yourself here or are the moderators really that hard up for star wars?
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--
A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
You've wandered into my jurisdiction.
Pre-telescope, a planet (for the Greek word for "wanderer") was any sky object that moved against the "fixed" background of stars. These obviously didn't include Uranus, Neptune, or Pluto, which can't be seen with the naked eye, but did include the Sun and Moon. (The makes the mystical number 7, which happens to be why we have 7 days in the week, a survival from Middle Eastern religious astrology.)
This terminology was not very useful after telescopes revealed a bunch of lot of objects not visible with the naked eye. So "planet" was redefined as an object that moved and resolved to a disk in a telescope -- except for satellites of planets, which became "moons" with a little M.
But telescopes turned up a lot of objects that moved agains the starry background (like planets) but didn't resolve to a disk (like stars). These earned the adjectives "planetoid" (planet-like) and "asteroid" (star-like). "Asteroid" seems to have become the standard noun, leaving "Planetoid" for Star Trek writers to play with.
Elsewhere in this discussion somebody argues against getting caught up in artificial distinctions. Despite my professional obssesion with words and taxonomies (or maybe because of it), I have to endorse this POV. You can argue about whether Pluto is a planet or a moon (a issue that would be clearer if it either Pluto or Charon were either closer or father from their comon center of rotation) or whether Jupiter is a hot planet or a cool star (just a few million degrees either way...) But words are just for communicating between people. The universe laughs at our petty distinctions.
__________
Also, Neptune and Pluto are in a 3:2 resonance, which is another reason they won't collide.
http://www.seds.org/nin epl anets/nineplanets/plutodyn.html
Just have to say that Anne Marie Kicks ass...
Soon legions of Shoggoths will wreak havoc to the face of the Earth!
"Reality is less than television."-Brian Oblivion
Does this mean that all the Horoscopes since Pluto was dsicovered will have to be redone? Obviously a scam to keep otherwise unemployables busy. On the other hand, if you're going to ignore the precession of the equinoxes why bother with an extra planet or two.
IICat>>>>>
Thanks everyone for correcting this dumbass
Read my plan to save the Bengals
Just what we need, another Sailor Senshi.
Trans-Neptunian Object EB173 Planet Power, MAKE UP!
144l. ph34r my 133t l3g4l 5k1lz!
If the Oort cloud is, in fact, thick or dense enough to stop such objects (or at least deflect them), then what about Voyager? How is it getting through, on a prayer?
If Voyager CAN get through easily enough, what's to say that something else Earthward-bound couldn't too?
Mr. Ska
...it's the largest *Plutino* (Kuiper object in a 2:3 orbital resonance with Neptune) The largest Kuiper belt object (after Pluto and Charon) is.... (drum roll, please... ) 1996 TO66 Observe- The albedos of most Kuiper objects are a matter for speculation and guess-work at the present time. Therefore the only key we have to their size is absolute magnitude. The absolute magnitude of 1996 TO66 is 4.5 that of 2000 EB173 is 4.8 1996 TO66 is brighter and hence (probably) larger than 2000 EB173. I defy anyone (amateur or professional) to tell me I'm wrong. John Cody for more information about this fascinating object, consult my amateurish (yet content-rich) website at www.crosswinds.net/~johncody/
It should be named 'Rupert'.
Paul Anderson
"I drank WHAT?!" -- Socrates