Pluto may lose its "planetary" status

Originally Posted by The Dopefish

Mercury
Venus
Earth
Mars
Ceres
Jupiter
Saturn
Uranus
Neptune
Pluto
Charon
Xena, Warrior Princess.

Whoever can come up with the cleverest mnemonic for that wins a trophy.

(Note: Ceres, Charon and Xena are the three the International Astronomical Union want to add now. They may add yet more by the time all is said and done.)

My
Very
Esoteric
Mother
Can
Jump &
Skip
Until
Night
Pretends to
Calm
Xtraneously.

No sense whatsoever, but I can't come up with anything that starts with X.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

Originally Posted by agreatguy6

My
Very
Esoteric
Mother
Can
Jump &
Skip
Until
Night
Pretends to
Calm
Xtraneously.

No sense whatsoever, but I can't come up with anything that starts with X.

I'd change it to:
Nifty
Pianists
Collect
Xylophones

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

It's sort of ridiculous that they teach this stuff as cold hard fact to kids when the smartest solar system guys in the world are on the fence about this kind of thing. But I guess education is evolutionary as long as humans continue to be dumbasses.

I'm going to miss Pluto though.

I was speaking idiomatically.

How bout
Neurotic
Pianists
Crack
Xylophones???

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

Originally Posted by kat

I'm going to miss Pluto though.

Why? Where's Pluto going?


This whole keeping Pluto a planet and adding many more is just making the issue extremely confusing. They should make a more proper categorization of planets. Maybe small planets half the size of earth are to be called dwarf planets or something. I don't know. Science can come up with some pretty uninteresting names.

FELIPE NO

No, no, no it was.

-My
-Very
-Enormus
-Mother
-Just
-Sat
-Upon
-Nine
-Pizza

------

About the Pluto being classifyed off as a planet, we might as well say The Rockies isn't a mountain range and it's a big rock. The scientists can classify Pluto how they want, but until it's stuffed in the textbooks and everyone of this generation (????-2006) dies off, it won't do them any good, bu tonly for specific scientific discussion, like in Astronomy of something of that nature. It will still be pluto until we totally forget it.

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

Originally Posted by King-X

Wanting to downgrade Pluto but in the meantime upgrade (what is now) 3 smaller worlds into planets just doesn't make any logic to me...

They're two differing lines of thought. Under the current system, Pluto as a planet is questionable. To solve this, the definition of "planet" has to include three other things.

Originally Posted by Majin yami

But wait, isn't Charon a moon?

Kinda. Charon orbits a point outside Pluto, and Pluto orbits around that same point, like how binary stars behave.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Originally Posted by Aoie_Emesai

About the Pluto being classifyed off as a planet, we might as well say The Rockies isn't a mountain range and it's a big rock. The scientists can classify Pluto how they want, but until it's stuffed in the textbooks and everyone of this generation (????-2006) dies off, it won't do them any good, bu tonly for specific scientific discussion, like in Astronomy of something of that nature. It will still be pluto until we totally forget it.

That's fucking bullshit logic right there. Just because of what's been drilled into our heads in school we should retain and never get new information or discover new things? By that logic evolution would never come around because it was taught that God made everything as everyone would have to die who believed that in order to accept it.

There is such a thing as textbook revision and it will become revised in the newest edition if such a school elects to purchase it if they have the funds.

You can learn a lot from you own and not from school textbooks, which are often biased and only cover part of the picture.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Originally Posted by guyinrubbersuit

You can learn a lot from you own and not from school textbooks, which are often biased and only cover part of the picture.

I'm really hoping you just mean science books. And even those you can learn from, possibly later using them as a springboard to finding new ideas or disproving old one.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

They're going to have to change it eight or 12, no matter what. This proposal is going to have a drastic effect on our understanding and will outdate textbooks. Get ready for the change, because the IAU is going to come to a decision whether you all like it or not.

Hell, ever browse through the astronomy books at an elementary school? There are kids reading things that were printed before the first landing on the moon.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

I will still never forgive them for naming a planet after Xena.

I was speaking idiomatically.

Originally Posted by XSO

I will still never forgive them for naming a planet after Xena.

Except they didn't.

Originally Posted by Michael Brown

About the name: The real name of the new planet is currently in limbo while committees decide its fate. For those speculating that the name will be "Lila" based on the web site name I must warn you that that is really just a sentimental dad's early-morning-after-no-sleep naming of a web site for his (at the time) three week old daughter and one should not take it too seriously! In fact, the sentimental dad was so tired he even spelled his own daughter's name wrong (it is "Lilah"). The name "Xena" is frequently heard associated with this planet; this name comes from an internal cod name that we used before we publically announced the existence of the planet. Other code names have been "Santa" (2003 EL61), "Rudolph" (the moon of 2003 EL61), "Easterbunny" (2005 FY9) and "Flying Dutchman" (Sedna), and "Gabrielle" (the moon of 2003 UB313). We use these names internally simply because they are easier to say and remember than things like 2003 EL61 or S/2005 (2003 UB313) 1 . There is no chance whatsoever that these will become the permanent names of these objects! As soon as the committees make their decisions these objects will get real names. When we first announced the existence of these objects we thought that the real names would be decided in days to weeks, not months to years so it never occured to us that these code names would last more than a few days. We hope the committees decide soon so people can start getting used to the real more dignified names soon!

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

All my school lessons to the rubbish. Maybe one day we discover the Sun isn't really a star.

FELIPE NO

Originally Posted by takeru

All my school lessons to the rubbish. Maybe one day we discover the Sun isn't really a star.

Oh fucking get over it. Science textbooks and information for other studies gets updated all the time. Just because the number of the planets is going to change when more than likely (blatant, asshattish assumption, yes) only would ever care about if asked in a quiz or game show, doesn't make your whole world crumble to pieces.

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

Originally Posted by Majin yami

Of course they can be. It's just a matter of defining what the word planet means. I wouldn't mind, for example, anything the size of, say, bigger than Pluto in our solar system to be given the title of planet. They all orbit the sun (some also circle around other planets but that's not a point here). This would bring at least 50 new planets into the system, so it wouldn't be the best possible alternative, in the end.

I'm all for a few extra planets, this new 12-planets-so-far definition seems all right to me.

How ya doing, buddy?

Originally Posted by Kishin

Of course they can be. It's just a matter of defining what the word planet means. I wouldn't mind, for example, anything the size of, say, bigger than Pluto in our solar system to be given the title of planet. They all orbit the sun (some also circle around other planets but that's not a point here). This would bring at least 50 new planets into the system, so it wouldn't be the best possible alternative, in the end.

I wouldn't say that moons orbit the Sun. They orbit planets, which in turn orbit the Sun. And I'd put the classification that anything orbiting a planet can't be a planet. It'd be different if it were a dual orbit, like if both planets orbit around each other.

How ya doing, buddy?

http://space.com/scienceastronomy/06...efinition.html

Well, it's official. 8 planets in our solar system. Pluto's out.

That sucks.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

Pluto fails

I think this is pretty much fucking ridiculous, those faggots are overthrowing an untouchable tradition. Millions of books must be renewed. Super decision.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

What's gonna happen to our old memory tools now?

My Very Eager Mother Just Served Us Nine Peanuts
and the variation for select times:
My Very Eager Mother Just Served Us Pastachio Nuts

All down the drain now. ;_;

I was speaking idiomatically.

Originally Posted by Sir VG

What's gonna happen to our old memory tools now?

My Very Eager Mother Just Served Us Nine Peanuts
and the variation for select times:
My Very Eager Mother Just Served Us Pastachio Nuts

All down the drain now. ;_;

Hmm...

My Very Eager Mother Just Served Us Nine
...nine what? WE'LL NEVER KNOW!

My Very Eager Mother Just Served Us Nuts
Yum. I guess this still works, even though it's weird.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

Does Pluto have an atmosphere? I mean, given that they'd established Charon is a satellite, I can see why it couldn't be a planet. Part of the definition of a planet, if I remember correctly, is that it has to have atmosphere. Thus, these asteroids and moons that people may have wanted to become planets due to their size just don't fit the criteria.

FELIPE NO

Originally Posted by JazzFlight

Hmm...

My Very Eager Mother Just Served Us Nine
...nine what? WE'LL NEVER KNOW!

My Very Eager Mother Just Served Us Nuts
Yum. I guess this still works, even though it's weird.

But then young children will amend that to be 'Mike's Very Eager Mother Just Sucked Ur Nuts'. The public school system will be in ruins!

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

Well, Pluto may be out now but there could be a new planet. As it has been mentioned, 2003 UB313 (Xena) has been talked about becoming a planet.

It probably has a good chance at becoming the new 9th planet. It certainly is larger than Pluto after all.

Oh, I heard the decision on the news this morning. They explained that while Pluto wont be called a planet now it, and other objects like it in that belt, will be classified as a "Dwarf Planet".

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Originally Posted by Acro-nym

Does Pluto have an atmosphere? I mean, given that they'd established Charon is a satellite, I can see why it couldn't be a planet. Part of the definition of a planet, if I remember correctly, is that it has to have atmosphere. Thus, these asteroids and moons that people may have wanted to become planets due to their size just don't fit the criteria.

Mercury doesn't have an atmosphere and it's still a planet.

I like this new definition and this new ruling.


Boofucking hoo textbooks have to be rewritten. Big deal it happens all the time. Jesus I hope you people aren't serious about your precious memory. Memory is flawed, and besides, learning and discovering new things is fun.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Well, I'd assume that it was official.
It's about to be on the news, they just announced it.
Pluto is not a planet.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.