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Our Moon Could Become a Planet

anthemaniac writes "Earth's moon is drifting away from us more than an inch every year. In a few billion years, if the system survives, the moon would be reclassified as a planet under the new IAU definition. You gotta wonder if the astronomers who dreamed this definition up had thought of that."

13 of 438 comments (clear)

  1. Because *somebody* has to say it... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    That's no moon!

    1. Re:Because *somebody* has to say it... by Flibz · · Score: 5, Funny

      It's a small NASA movie set!

  2. Got enough time to change the definition by Ghost+Hedgehog · · Score: 5, Funny

    In a billion years propably the defintion of planet will have a few thousand updates.
    The problem will fix itself in time I guess.

  3. It's not a moon... by aadvancedGIR · · Score: 5, Funny

    ...oh well, forget it, it's still a moon.

    Reminds me of that old joke telling that a quick computation on the evolution of this distance placed the moon 4 meters away from the earth 65 million years ago and thus explained why the dinausors died. ...at least the tallest ones.

  4. Re:In a few billion years... by LiquidCoooled · · Score: 5, Funny

    ...and we will still be waiting to play Duke Nukem forever on our Vista machines.

    --
    liqbase :: faster than paper
  5. Re:Many things will happen ... by Flibz · · Score: 5, Funny

    In fact we'll only be able to take one item of baggage, which will be a clear plastic bag containing essential items only.

    And no electronic devices. Or Liquid.

    Orbiting balls of rock won't even fit through the scanner.

  6. Re:So what? by BecomingLumberg · · Score: 4, Funny

    "I would gladly send my kid to this elementary school if they could prove that they could teach concepts like orbital decay and barycenters to to nine-year-olds."

    I would only send my kid there if they LEARNED it. I have a feeling they most nine-year-olds would be picking boogers during that class.

    --
    If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be.-TJ
  7. Re:Many things will happen ... by geoffspear · · Score: 5, Funny

    We can just build a new moon. With blackjack. And hookers.

    --
    Don't blame me; I'm never given mod points.
  8. Taking the long view? by Rob+T+Firefly · · Score: 4, Funny

    People are already arguing over things that may happen in a few billion years? I don't even buy green bananas!

  9. Re:Many things will happen ... by Vengeance · · Score: 4, Funny

    In fact, forget about the moon.

    --
    It was a joke! When you give me that look it was a joke.
  10. Re:So what? by lowrydr310 · · Score: 4, Funny

    I'm almost 26 and I'm picking boogers right now while reading these comments. (I'm serious)

  11. Eh. I have a problem with that. by porkchop_d_clown · · Score: 4, Funny

    Calling Jupiter a "failed star" is like calling me a "failed super model" - I mean, yeah, there's some similarities between me and a super model but it's extremely unlikely anyone would ever mistake me for one.

    IIRC, Jupiter has only about 1% of the mass needed to achieve fusion, so it's a long, long way from being a star. I, on the other hand easily have ten times the mass required to be a super model.

  12. Re:In a few billion years... by Crayon+Kid · · Score: 5, Funny

    Phew!

    --
    i ate crayons when i was a kid and now i have two braincells and the blue ones taste nicer