IAU Proposes 3 New Planets

IZ Reloaded writes "Sources tell SPACE.com that the International Astronomical Union is preparing to include three new entries to the current list of planets in our solar system. From the article: The asteroid Ceres, which is round, would be recast as a dwarf planet in the new scheme. Pluto would remain a planet and its moon Charon would be reclassified as a planet. Both would be called "plutons," however, to distinguish them from the eight "classical" planets. A far-out Pluto-sized object known as 2003 UB313 would also be called a pluton."

Comments

Cowboy neal option

[LiquidCoooled]

How long until we can get Cowboy Neal reclassified as a pluton?

In another news...

[Cyberax]

Pluton politely asks media corporation not to use His name as a generic noun.

Re:Interesting solution

[andrewman327]

The three bullet points in the parent are quoted from TFA. The cite was cut off, apologies.

I hope there isn't life on 2003UB313 (which is very highly unlikely) because then we would have to talk about the 2003UB313ians and that would just be annoying.

Yikes.

[Rob T Firefly]

Somewhere, Space Fonzie is jumping over an Astro-Shark.

I don't care what they are named....

[lbmouse]

....what do they smell like?

Fry: Did you build the Smellescope?
Farnsworth: No, I remembered that I'd built one last year. Go ahead, try it. You'll find that every heavenly body has its own particular scent. Here, I'll point it at Jupiter.
[Fry sniffs.]
Fry: Smells like strawberries.
Farnsworth: Exactly! And now Saturn.
[Fry sniffs.]
Fry: Pine needles. Oh, man, this is great! Hey, as long as you don't make me smell Uranus.
[Fry laughs.]
Leela: I don't get it.
Farnsworth: I'm sorry, Fry, but astronomers renamed Uranus in 2620 to end that stupid joke once and for all.
Fry: Oh. What's it called now?
Farnsworth: Urectum. Here, let me locate it for you.

Re:I don't care what they are named....

[Andy_R]

This joke appeared on he UK tv show "Spitting Image" in the late 1980s, around the time the astronomical community was actually trying to get us to pronounce it 'ooranus' as opposed you 'your-anus'.

A newscaster (Sir Alistair Campbell if memory serves me correctly) was shown announcing the name change to "boo-mo-lay', followed after a second or so by a picture of the planet, captioned "Bumhole".

I laughed a lot... but in my defence I was about 13 years old at the time.

The good side

[4D6963]

Let's see the good side of things, maybe Ceres with its new status will gain some more interest, *maybe* even enough for it to have the honour to be probed by us. Would surprise me a bit tho.

Edit : seems that there's already a probe destinated to Ceres (among others) nammed Dawn

Edit #2 : yeah I know, you can't actually edit your posts

Re:I like this defintion

[anshil]

"Why is the idea of over 50 planets so abhorent?"

Think of the complexity of the new astrology that would be needed to cater for 50 planets that then influence our fortunes, I would like my destiny be determined by just 9 planets...

Re:What the pluton?

[noahisaac]

The difference between a "pebble" and a "boulder" isn't tangible.

Having had both land on me at one point or another in my life, I beg to differ.

Re:What the pluton?

[Anonymous Coward]

* sub-stellar balls of gas (Jupiter, Saturn, Neptune, Uranus)

I thought sub-stellar balls of gas came from Uranus.

How about this one?

[tillerman35]

Orbjects: noun. contraction of ORBiting oBJECTS (with the repeated B collapsed to a single character). Any object in a solar system that orbits. Focus of such orbit must be another object or center of gravity derived from two or more objects.

Further classification:
Little Orbjects: Wee orbjects that require only a passing flock of waterfowl to achieve escape velocity. Can only contain volcanos, sheep, roses, and possibly a child, tippler, king, or accountant.
Big Orbjects: Orbjects that would require an actual propulsion system including significant amount of reaction mass to achieve escape velocity.
Huge Orbjects: Orbjects whose mass is so great that a human being could not survive its gravitational pull. Or better stated, orbjects that you might have sex with, but wouldn't introduce to your friends.

Re:Interesting solution

[houghi]

I for one will already welcome our 2003UB313ian overlords.

Re:Interesting solution

[Citizen of Earth]

because then we would have to talk about the 2003UB313ians and that would just be annoying.

I think they'd be called "Warrior Princesses".