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Pluto Might Be Bigger Than Eris

Posted by Soulskill on from the but-does-disney-have-a-trademark dept.

astroengine writes "Look out, the battle of the dwarf planets is about to re-ignite! During last weekend's rare occultation of a star by Eris, astronomers managed to gain one of the most accurate measurements of Eris' physical size. When three Chilean telescopes watched the star blink out of sight, astronomers were shocked to find that Eris is actually a lot smaller than originally thought. So small that it might be smaller than Pluto. On speaking with Discovery News, Eris' discoverer Mike Brown said, 'While everyone is more interested in the "mine is bigger than yours" aspect, the real science is the shockingly large density of Eris.' The mass of Eris is well known, so this means the object is more dense than Pluto. Does this mean the two mini-worlds have different compositions? Did they evolve differently? In light of this finding, is the underlying argument for Pluto being demoted from the planetary club on wobbly ground?"

3 of 257 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Cue by EyelessFade · · Score: 3, Funny

    Professor: "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?"
    Professor: "Urectum. Here, let me locate it for you."

  2. Re:What does being old have to do with it? by Beardo+the+Bearded · · Score: 3, Funny

    NOT A FUCKING PLANET.

    --

    ---
    ECHELON is a government program to find words like bomb, jihad, plutonium, assassinate, and anarchy.
  3. The goddess of discord by Mspangler · · Score: 3, Funny

    The goddess of discord is certainly living up to her reputation.

    "So you think you have me all figured out, do you? Heh, heh, heh."

    So how long will it take to get there, how big of a dish will it take to get a signal back, and how much plutonium to power the instrument package and radio to find out what is really going on out there?