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Planet X Larger Than Pluto?
nova_planitia writes "The Minor Planet mailing list is buzzing with the discovery by an amateur astronomer of a 17th magnitude object 51 astronomical units from the Sun, tentatively designated 2003 EL61. For those not versed in astronomical lingo, this is an object several times brighter than Pluto even though it is 25% farther out from the Sun (the orbit vizualised by JPL). This means that barring a strangely reflective surface, this object is larger than Pluto, possibly Mars-sized! The debate whether Pluto is a planet is likely to get rekindled by this discovery."
This rock I have in my backyard is a mountain.
I never spellcheck and I freely admit it. Save your karma for more worthwhile "lol erorrs" replies
Goofy
In order to avoid confusion as to whether Pluto is a planet, call the new planet Pluto and rename old Pluto something else, like Herbert The Cow. Or Mr Gazpacho. Or Hellish Creamcheese.
It's Friday afternoon, and 5pm looks a LOOOONG way away. Can you tell?
Well, if Planet X is sooo Gen X... It should be called iPlanet, or when someone tries to claim it, myPlanet.
"Pluto doesn't really exist, and we haven't landed on the moon."
Thats what they want you to think. We really have a super secret base on the moon. And Pluto is really our version of the Deathstar perched on the edge of the solar system in case any of the aliens on Mars get too far out of control.
"Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive." - C.S. Lewis
I, for one, welcome our new 2003-EL61ian overlords.
Sorry...I've never gotten to do one of those before.
Clearly, THAT is Pluto, and what we thought was Pluto wasn't. The new Pluto will know be known as Pluto, while the old Pluto will be forgotten.
There can be only one Pluto.
Never confuse volume with power.
OK, since most of the planets were named after Roman gods, here's a name for it:
Bacchus - the party planet! Party all night - and it's ALWAYS night!
www.eFax.com are spammers
it is.
Best Slashdot Co
A reflective surface you say?
That's no moon, It's a discoball!
*cue imperial march*
Costello: "We could call it planet Y."
Abbot: "Y?"
Costello: "Because"
Abbot: "Because why?"
Costello: "I don't know"
Abbot: "Third Base!"
How about Vista? That has such a nice ring to it :-)
Excellent! A new source of Illudium Phosdex, no doubt. It will probably be over three hundred years before we can get there, though, by which time our supplies will be alarmingly low.
proof, n. A demonstration that a conclusion is implied by certain premises and axioms.
(Planet X is soooo Gen X...)
... Planet X ... that's where we need to get our next supply of Illudium Phosdex, the shaving cream atom.
But
I saw it in a highly-scientific production that was made about 60 years ago.
(Yes, humorless mods, that's a joke. If you don't understand it, you need to watch classic, WB cartoons from the 1940s and 50s.)
The Overrated mod is for reversing inappropriate, positive mods, not for voicing disagreement with a post.
Pluto: Old and busted.
Planet X: The new hotness!
... my mom's name is Sedna. :-(
Pronounce that "Planet Ten," and it'll seem a bit more modern, but there's still not much of a vista to experience if you're living on Earth.
Cue the Uranus jokes:
"Speaking of size, what about Uranus?"
"How can be possible comment on this new planet when we still have yet to send a probe to Uranus?"
Some wise astronomers have tried to change the speech from "your anus" to "urine us" or "you're in us". Unfortunately the planet seems to just be plain doomed as far as American English pronounciation goes.
Cale: I'll call it planet Bob. Akima: You can't call a planet "Bob." Cale: So now you're the boss. You're the King of Bob? Akima: Can't we just call it "Earth"? Cale: No one said you have to live on Bob. Akima: I'm never calling it that.
When I tell an object to delete this, am I killing it or telling it to kill me?
When's the first astrologer going to sue because the discovery of this planet has deformed her horoscope?
Former US House candidate, TN-5
Discovered by an amateur, not seen before with all hightech equipment, strangely reflectant surface almost rendering it invisible?? Round (asuming it is a ballshaped object): It is a super borg sphere!! Run to the closet and get your bathlets! They can not fight against that!
Ok, the other possibility: Independence day...
And the last option: It is a cloacked deathstar!
My wife's sketchblog Blob[p]: Gastrono-me
Well if several people submit the same story, only one can be accepted.
With a uid so low, you should know better than that.
I hate grammar Nazi's.
But when I was in high school, Pluto didn't have a moon, and it's mass was about the same as Mercury. This planet might have been the one they were teaching me about. :)
Ben Hocking
Need a professional organizer?
After all:
"terrorism" and "pedophilia" are the root passwords to the Constitution
Someone suggested moving Uranus' name to this planet. I think there should be a contest! Possible new names:
Vaginus
Clitorum
Vulvus
I mean, why not. It's frigid and inaccessible to those who want to "study" it most!
It's just Big Boned!
Here's the real question: is it larger than Uranus? If so, we're all in trouble
Don't be a looter...and yes, I know that it's spelled with an "A" instead of an "E".
How about Nike? /ducks
Stop Global Warming!
Just say no to irreversible processes!
Pluto takes a few hundred years to orbit the sun
here in pluto we orbit the sun in one pluto year, you insensitive clod!
Why not call it Pluto 2.0? The new one, I mean. And the old one can be Pluto 1.0.
Unless you want to go with Open Source version numbers. Then the old one would be Pluto 0.1 and the new one would be Pluto 0.2. That gives plenty of room to name other random heavenly bodies until we find the real Pluto 1.0.
Persephone? Persephone! People don't want planets named after hungry old Greek broads! They want names like "Mustang" and "Cheetah"--vicious animal names!
If fate makes you a motorcycle, you become a motorcycle.
Could you now please define--with exclusivity--Lake, Pond, Brook, Stream, River, Sea, Gulf, Bay, Ocean, Hill, Mountain and Continent?
Who do you get to be an expert to tell you something's not obvious? The least insightful person you can find? -J Roberts
Huh? What? Did somebody say something?
Damn kids keep interrupting my nap.
DG
Want to learn about race cars? Read my Book
They loooove our television there, and our mail-order furniture.
If it is then it's time to start evacuating before the Grebulons destroy the Earth because is rising into capricorn.
ahh screw it... Let's just go to Stavro Mueller Beta and watch the show...
Who wants to memorize the 85 planets of our solar system?
Worse, think of all the styrofoam balls and toothpicks you'll need to complete your model
D6 63 0D 70 89 81 BB 8E 7B 7C 5F 5D 54 EA AB 73
Call it "oid"
That way, the name will be informative, and will help alleviate future pointless debate over whether it is a planet (It is, and it's called Oid) or a planetoid (that's what I said... planet-oid). -nAP
Actually, it'd be quite interesting if they auctioned the naming rights on eBay... then again, Planet GoldenPalaceCasino.com doesn't quite have the right ring to it.
Shut up, Dave.
There are no trails. There are no trees out here.
Back in my day, we didn't have these duplicate articles. We only had one story about any article, and we had to fetch it manually. With TCP! Upstream both ways! And we liked it that way!
Planet Reagan
*shiver*
Nah, they'd stick to naming planets after gods...
Planet Jesus.
The libertarian solution to the failures of capitalism is to apply more capitalism til the failures are fixed.
Yes, if it has a tractor beam.
Thats no moon!! (ducks)
option a)
rename Pluto Plutonium and notice its rapid decay from being called a "Planet" to a "big ass rock."
Then name 2003 EL61 as Pluto so it can be the next planet to be renamed Plutonium for its rapid decay to massive frozen rock in the near future.
option b)
define what, exactly, a planet is already.
dave's not here...
Forget the gods, let's call it Dave.
I'm afraid I cannot do that Dave.
The planet's name is Nibiru. At least thats what the Ancient Sumerians called it.
They Sumerians knew about all planets we currently know about, including Pluto which we didn't discover for ourselves until 1930. However, they also knew about a 10th planet past Pluto that they called Nibiru. According to the Sumerians, this 10th planet had a highly eliptical orbit and orbited the sun in the opposite direction to the rest of the planets.
The Sumerian's even believed an alien race, known as the Annunaki, inhabited this planet and possessed space travel technology that allows them to visit earth while their planet is inside the asteroid belt because of its highly eliptical orbit.
... and in the DRM, bind them.
...then it HAS to be Mondas. But it's late! It should have reached perihelion in 1986.
It's a small world and it smells funny; I'd buy another if it wasn't for the money; Take back what I paid (SoM)
Well, since we are into tech names in this thread:
How about naming the planet(-ino)
"foo" and its moon "bar" ?
because cleary it is Far Out and Beyond All Recovery
I'm still trying to figure out what people mean by 'social skills' here.
You mean Uranus?