Slashdot Mirror
Some Demote Pluto To Non-Planet
Ravn0s writes "Pluto, subject of much controversy since it's discovery, has now been demoted from a planet. The Rose Center for Earth and Space, which opened last year at the American Museum of Natural History in New York is now saying that Pluto is not necessarily a planet at all but just a smallish lump of ice. Essentially, Pluto is now a largish comet. Details in this article." Other groups disagree, as the article points out.
Here's a quick list of the reasons I can remember off the top of my head:
- All of the planets beyond Mars consist mostly of a large atmosphere and planet-wide ocean (thus the semi-accurate label "Gas Giants")... except Pluto. Pluto is mainly rock and ice, with little or no atmosphere. Interestingly enough, Pluto does have an atmosphere, but it freezes during Pluto's "winter" and falls to the surface.
- All of the planets beyond Mars have a mass many times that of Earth; except Pluto. Pluto is roughly half the size of Earth's moon.
- All of the planets in our solar system have an almost planar orbit (ie, the orbits all lie within a few degrees of the same plane). Pluto's orbit is inclined over 15 degrees.
- Pluto's orbital radius is HUGE and highly erratic. About 49 times the average radius of Earth's orbit at it's peak.
Given these facts, Pluto clearly does not belong in the same category as the 8 planets. It does, however, fit nicely with objects in the Kuiper belt. The Kuiper belt is the collection of icy planetismals that were "kicked out" of the inner solar system instead of coalescing into planets. Their orbits are higly erratic and non-planar, and generally lie beyond the orbits of Neptune and Uranus.Hope this clears things up a bit...
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odds of being killed by lightning and
Odds of being killed by lightning and winning the lottery in the same day: 1 in 2^55
Read the fg article! This is about one museum in New York that decided to label Pluto as a non-planet in a single display. This isn't the gathering of an astronomical society declaring Pluto a non-planet!
:)
Not that Pluto is a *real* planet anyway, but that's beside the point.
I bet the Ice People living near the core of pluto are gonna be pissed...
I bet this is Hemos's doing... 'cause we all know he is an Alien. After that Optical SETI crap, we should have expected this.
I am become Troll, destroyer of threads
The Rose Center says there is no universal definition of a planet...
Then make one! We shouldn't be debating whether Pluto is a planet, we should be debating what the definition of a planet should be. Then, Pluto will come out in the wash.
I can't believe people are getting territorial about Pluto.
Why is this news?
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Accountability on the heads of the powerful.
Power in the hands of the accountable.
He can orbit the sun, he can look like a moon
He can leave the ecliptic from April to June
He'll be just a faint smudge, magnitude twenty-three
He hides in the sky, but he's always a planet to me
Ohhh...a potato-shaped ball...
He can drift where he wants
He's a relic of time
Ohhh...if he's made of pure ice
Or of vapor and dust
It's the same to my mind
If he zooms in near us, would he show us a tail?
Was the Kuiper Belt once the great home whence he sailed?
And if he gets demoted, who'll be next, Mercury?
And the most he can do is cast shadows, it's true
But he's always a planet to me
Jamie McCarthy
Jamie McCarthy
jamie.mccarthy.vg
...and because of that, I think I will have to applaud their actions.
Kids get things drilled into their heads, like how many planets there are. Instead they should be taught in a way that's a little less discreet such that they come to an earlier realization that the universe isn't black and white, any more than life is.
A friend of mine (who grew up and went to school in Japan) thought that there was only one moon, "The Moon." Again, I think this is reflective of a strict regimine of memorizing facts rather than exploring the wonders that our universe has to offer.
...is the obvious fact that demoting Pluto to a mere Kuiper Belt object runs the grave risk of offending its namesake, the dread Lord of the Underworld. I have yet to see any respectable scientist propose the obvious solution to this problem: to ameliorate Pluto, several fattened heifers should be slaughered in sacrifice on the steps of the Rose Center. I'm shocked, shocked that these scientists would risk angering the god; the last time someone (namely, Persephone) did so, Demeter plunged the Earth into famine, and ulimately the seasons were split in two.
Australia is no longer a continent, it has instead been demoted to an island!
My karma's bigger than yours!
SIG: HUP
Kissimmee, Florida-- After many months of exercising and maintaining a healthy diet, Pluto, the loveable dog of Mickey Mouse, has finally met his goal weight. "He struggled with it for a while, at first," says his proud and famous owner, "but cutting his intake of doggie treats has brought him back down to an acceptable weight."
"We look forward to seeing him act in movies again," Mickey's girlfriend, Minnie, added. And so do we all...
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