Slashdot Mirror
Pluto Might Be Bigger Than Eris
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?"
Size does not matter. Clearing its path matters. Per the IAU Pluto has not cleared its orbital path and can not be considered a planet by the current definition.
I think that it has a lot to do with the fact that a shockingly large number of people confuse nomenclature with knowledge. Because of that, a fairly fiddly technical discussion over how best to handle astronomical nomenclature hit the popular press as "zOMG pointy-headed scientists don't even know if Pluto is a planet!!!!!"
Naming is not a trivial thing, good nomenclature makes the world a much easier place, crap nomenclature makes it a mess wholly without reason; but either way it seduces people into forgetting that names are simply constructs, assigned for our convenience to bundles of real things. Sometimes, you have to revise the constructs to make the nomenclature better, simpler, more expressive, whatever; but that is very different from changing the bundle of real things and attributes.
At least we can be certain it will pass - I don't see any people lamenting that Ceres, Pallas, Juno and Vesta have lost their planetary status.
Status which they had, for half a century after their discovery. Similar to Pluto.
(for that matter, the same applies to the Sun - it was also classified as a planet at some point)
One that hath name thou can not otter
Ask just about anyone geeky and my age,, and they'll telll you so: "yes, Pluto is a Fucking Planet, now stop trying to change things".
What does being geeky have to do with being old and too set in your ways to listen to reason?
Give us an argument why the IAU's definitions of a planet and of a dwarf planet are unreasonable. Please avoid any Appeal to Tradition. Also, can you craft a definition of a planet that covers Pluto but not Eris and Ceres other than "just what we used to arbitrarily call a planet?"
If it's for-profit but free, you're not the customer -- you're the product (e.g., the Slashdot Beta's "audience").
It's perfectly simple: Humans are not animals, Humans are fucking special. Ask just about anyone religious and my age, they'll tell you so: "No, humans aren't animals, now stop trying to change things".
See how ridiculous your non-argument sounds?