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Illinois Declares Pluto a Planet

Posted by timothy on from the after-ruling-out-pebble-and-mailing-tube dept.

The Bad Astronomer writes "The legislators in Illinois, always on the lookout for more places to find voters, have passed a resolution declaring Pluto is a planet. I'm not sure what else can be said here, except that — besides overstepping their jurisdiction just a wee bit — they make a couple of scientific howlers in the resolution itself."

23 of 512 comments (clear)

  1. Pff this is ridiculous by Rosco+P.+Coltrane · · Score: 5, Funny

    Everybody knows Pluto is a dog.

    --
    "A door is what a dog is perpetually on the wrong side of" - Ogden Nash
    1. Re:Pff this is ridiculous by tritonman · · Score: 5, Insightful

      This just proves that fact that politicians are freaking idiots.

    2. Re:Pff this is ridiculous by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      Consider the work they do and how much they manage to get paid for it. My definition of idiot doesn't quite capture that. "Idiot savant" comes closer.

    3. Re:Pff this is ridiculous by Eunuchswear · · Score: 5, Funny

      Is Pluto covered with graveyards that we don't know about or something?

      Way to expose your ignorance.

      Pluto is the fucking king of the underworld!

      If you want to vote the dead, he's the guy to see.

      --
      Watch this Heartland Institute video
    4. Re:Pff this is ridiculous by xorsyst · · Score: 5, Funny

      Don't joke, the Dog Star is a very sirius matter.

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  2. This just in by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Slashdot declares Illinois retarded

    1. Re:This just in by sumdumass · · Score: 5, Informative

      Actually, that isn't as scary as you think. The biblical reference your making can logically be concluded to 3.14 and not 3 exactly.

  3. Politicians wonder... by mc1138 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Why no one trusts them to get things done anymore... We're in the biggest financial crisis in years and they spent the time to declare Pluto a planet. It means nothing, is non binding, and shows a huge disconnect between the political scene and the general populace.

    --
    The musings of just another geek and his junk.
    1. Re:Politicians wonder... by Notquitecajun · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Frankly, the more time they spend doing silly crap like this, the less time the spend screwing something important up. It's too bad it wastes tax dollars to do it, though...

  4. Too right! by Xest · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Yeah. I vote that Illinois also changes the definition of a mile and shortens it so that their residents can get more miles to the gallon! I also vote that they cut the definition of an hour down to 30mins to shorten my working day.

    Consensus and standards be damned, they're just definitions!

    1. Re:Too right! by houghi · · Score: 5, Funny

      If they shorten the mile enough, they can also change the name to meter.

      --
      Don't fight for your country, if your country does not fight for you.
  5. Re:Before people say that Illinois is stupid by Jeff+DeMaagd · · Score: 5, Interesting

    There are now 8 planets in the UNIVERSE because they defined a planet as a body orbiting the sun. The definition sucks so I have no problem if states are defining a planet as something else than a small club of grey men(IAU).

    You can say that it's "just a definition", but I don't see where it's the place of a legislature to make scientific definitions to scientists. Legislatures supposedly have better things to do. If they don't, they should recess until that changes.

    The IAU definition of a planet is more extensive than that. Also, while I haven't read the IAU text, I doubt their definition means that there are only eight planets in the universe. The only thing I don't like about their definition is that their use of "dwarf" in "dwarf planet" basically means "not a planet", and I think that's inconsistent and improper use of the word.

  6. Re:Yo mama is so fat... by thomasdz · · Score: 5, Funny

    Yo mama is so fat...Illinois declared her a planet
    Yo mama is so ugly, astronomers who look at her think they're looking at Jupiter's moon IO
    Yo mama is so old, her boyfriends CARBON-date her
    Yo mama is so old and fat, her stomach is actually fusing helium with neon to produce magnesium just before she turns into a neutron star!
    Yo mama is so ugly, that when computer scientists look at her, they are immediately reminded of Edsger Dijkstra's letter "Go To Statement Considered Harmful" because they don't want to "Go To" her.

    Ok, that last one got me severely beaten up on the playground when I was a kid, but the rest are funny and hardly trollish.

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  7. In other news... by Dachannien · · Score: 5, Informative

    In other news, a giant robotic Neil deGrasse Tyson was seen bursting through the walls of the Illinois Capitol Building, saying, "Pluto is a Plutoid. You have 30 seconds to comply."

  8. There is a good reason for this ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    If Pluto isn't a planet, it will cost a bunch of money to replace all the fifty year old science texts.

    If Pluto is a planet, they can keep using the fifty year old science texts.

    What, you think I'm kidding! You obviously aren't a teacher.

    1. Re:There is a good reason for this ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      There's an easy solution to that, just use 100 year old science texts, Pluto won't be in them at all.

  9. If Illinois Says it's a Planet, It's a Planet by RobotRunAmok · · Score: 5, Funny

    Don't argue. There's already three astronomers at the bottom of Lake Michigan who "begged to differ."

    It's the Chicago way.

  10. They missed something. by Stoutlimb · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The law is written thusly: "that as Pluto passes overhead through Illinois night skies, that it be reestablished with full planetary status"

    Because Illinois is a northerly state... does Pluto ever actually pass "overhead"? Ever? Pluto's orbital inclination to the sun is about 11 degrees at maximum. The latitude of Illinois is much higher than that, at about 36 degrees. So Pluto may never pass through their air space, even if the borders of Illinois are extended upwards to infinity.

    But since Pluto can never truly be "overhead", does that mean the law never actually goes into effect?

    Comments? Suggestions?

    1. Re:They missed something. by the_other_chewey · · Score: 5, Informative

      Because Illinois is a northerly state... does Pluto ever actually pass "overhead"? Ever?

      Yes.

      Pluto's orbital inclination to the sun is about 11 degrees at maximum. The latitude of Illinois is much higher than that, at about 36 degrees. So Pluto may never pass through their air space, even if the borders of Illinois are extended upwards to infinity.

      You are thinking about the inclination relative to the sun's equator - however, Pluto's orbital inclination to the Earth's plane is more than that: A bit over 17 degrees.
      Earth's own axis is tilted 23.5 degrees, and as there's no obvious integer resonance between their orbital periods, Pluto will at some time be visible overhead at as
      high as +/- ~40.5 degrees (17+23.5) - which is surprisingly close to Chicago's latitude of ~41 degrees. So either they got lucky, or someone actually thought about that.

      However, Pluto right now is at 17.5 degrees south, so it will never be in zenith north of 6 degrees north (23.5-17.5) or - very roughly - Panama. And due to Pluto's loooooong orbital period of
      about 250 Earth years, this will not change significantly for a very long time.

      On an unrelated note: WhyTF is slashdot eating my degree signs - and not allowing the ampersand HTML entity?

  11. Re:Before people say that Illinois is stupid by FTWinston · · Score: 5, Informative

    Nice selective quoting there. You missed a bit: "states that in the Solar System a planet is" .. so this definition doesn't apply outside the solar system, it doesn't say that things outwith the solar system cannot be planets.

  12. Re:Before people say that Illinois is stupid by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Neptune will never "suck up" Pluto. They are in a 3:2 mean motion resonance, so although their orbits cross, they will never collide.

    http://www.nineplanets.org/plutodyn.html
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orbital_resonance

  13. Re:Yo mama is so fat... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    You used Edsger Dijkstra references as a kid? I don't think it was the "Yo mama" insults that got you beat up on the playground!

  14. Tomorrow's Headline... by vmxeo · · Score: 5, Funny

    CHICAGO - Federal authorities have indicted several Illinios Senators on corruption charges after an undercover investigation. According to tapes released, Senators called a number of planetoids asking "what they could get" for the title of planet. Rod Blagojevich was unavailable for comment.

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