Is {pluto|sedna} A Planet?

Dr. Zowie writes "NASA's announcement last week of Sedna's discovery reignited the debate over whether Pluto is a planet. Dr. Alan Stern a noted planetary scientist and leader of the New Horizons mission to Pluto, pours on some gasoline with this article in which he skewers the various arguments against Pluto-as-planet. Choice quotes include 'You wouldn't deny a chihauhau a place among dogs because it is too small,' and 'if your brain was so completely full of names of people that it just couldn't take any more, would anyone new who you met after that, therefore not be a person?'"

Comments

I love this stuff

[Perianwyr Stormcrow]

Although you have to admit that we NEED a planet named after the god of the dead. Perhaps we can put some trash out there and christen it.

Re:I love this stuff

[Guppy06]

"The tomato=fruit idea was introduced long after the classification as a vegetable as well established.

The reason for the reclassification of tomatos by the biologists was that they started to buy into the evolutionary classification schemes. So the taxonomy was redefined to fit the new theory."

What the FUCK have you been smoking in your pipe?

Fruit (froot) [n]--the ripened reproductive body of a seed plant

What's the seed-bearing part of an apple tree? An apple. The seed-bearing part of an orange tree? An orange. And what part of a freakin' tomato plant holds the seeds?

A carrot is a vegetable. Celery is a vegetable. Lettuce is a vegetable. Potatoes... who the fuck cares about a potato is. But just because people are more likely to slice it up and put it in sandwiches or salads than eat it whole doesn't make a tomato a vegetable. Heck, some salads include slices of apples; does that make an apple a vegetable?

And the sad thing is I bet you're a biology major as well.

Re:I love this stuff

[Herkum01]

Quote but I forget from where, sorry for no credit.

It is science that tells us that the tomato is a fruit. It is wisdom that keeps us from adding it to a fruit salad.

Re:I love this stuff

[tiled_rainbows]

What I don't get is, if these "dinosaurs" have been extinct for millions of years, how does anyone know what they were called?

I reckon that these paleontologist guys are just making these names up.

W00t!

[Huxley_Dunsany]

FP! FP!

Err, by 'FP', I am of course refering to 'Final Planet'.

Of course. What did you think I meant?

Huxley

People?

[Tackhead]

> if your brain was so completely full of names of people that it just couldn't take any more, would anyone new who you met after that, therefore not be a person?

The two-legged things in my office have names?! Not just email addresses?

Re:People?

[Anonymous Coward]

E-mail addresses and passwords. And no, they cannot rememble the latter.

Mmmm... Flamewar..

[Anonymous Coward]

".. pours on some gasoline with this article..."

You haven't seen squat until you've seen astronomers argue.

Pluto should be called...

[Anonymous Coward]

...a pluto. And Sedna a sedna. The solar system would have 8 planets, a pluto and a sedna, then. :)

Re:a chihauhau?

[krosk]

by growl you must mean an ear-drum piercing yip ;)

Dog?

[vwjeff]

"You wouldn't deny a chihauhau a place among dogs because it is too small."

Dog? I always that chihauhaus were large rats.

Re:Dog?

[raoulortega]

Chihuahuas and yorkies are doglets.

Let the Astrologers decide.

[Melibeus]

My charts are going to have to all be recalculated if Sedna is a planet. What a PITA if there ends up being 900 planets! How will I ever be able to calculate this week's horoscope before the week is up?

We should have stuck to the original five. Mercury, Mars, Venus, Jupiter and Saturn. Earth doesn't count, since all these revolve around it.

Let's not mess with our destinies. Don't upset the natural systems any more.

Flawed metaphor

[flikx]

You wouldn't deny a chihauhau a place among dogs because it is too small,

chihauhaus are clearly rodents, not dogs. Therefor, Sedna is not a planet, but a rodent.

Pluto a planet????

[3seas]

Anyone think to ask Disney?

Astronomer's Flamewar

[QEDog]

"You haven't seen squat until you've seen astronomers argue."

Astronomer: "oh oh oh, yeah, well, you have your head up Uranus"

Re:What about the children

[Unregistered]

My
Very
Evil
Mother
Just
Sent
Us
Nothing

Re:Wrong

[hInstance]

What!? As any child can tell you, fruit tastes good, whereas vegetables are ucky. Therefore, the tomato is a vegetable. (Unless it's used in pizza sauce, at which time it is cast as a fruit)

Re:Wrong

[Waffle Iron]

Yes, and all fruits are: Animal? No. Mineral? No. Vegetable? Yes.

Therefore, tomatoes are vegetables, just like apples, peas, and pine trees.

eh?

[porkchop_d_clown]

This excludes stars and any gas giants so massive that they could become stars at some point in their existence.

Ummmm... given that the only difference between a gas giant and a star is their mass, does this statement make any sense at all? If a planet has "enough mass to become a star at some point" then it will immediately ignite. If it doesn't, it won't.

It's not like planets get a choice in the matter. It's not like Jupiter might get ambitious one day and decide to get lit.

Re:eh?

[shadowbearer]

It's not like Jupiter might get ambitious one day and decide to get lit.

I'm not going to touch that comment with a ten foot monolith.

SB

Totally Wrong

[PingPongBoy]

Tomatoes are planets.

Re:Totally Wrong

[Peter Harris]

No, only round tomatoes. Plum tomatoes are oval, therefore they must be planetoids.