How many planets in OUR solar system?
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so confusing...
Are there 8, 9, 10...or even 53 planets in the solar system?
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9?
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honestly, our intelligence limits us to answering this question
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the so called 10th planet xena is discovered but i think pluto is not a planetOriginally posted by digicharat:9? -
ok, im outdated. someone pls fills me in.Originally posted by anhydrouscoppersulphate:the so called 10th planet xena is discovered but i think pluto is not a planet -
there's a ruling on whether to call Pluto a planet or a Kuiper Belt Object cause Pluto is too small. they are deciding on the definition of "planet"Originally posted by digicharat:ok, im outdated. someone pls fills me in. -
ok so... if pluto is not a planet... then im still correct. because you said new planet xena was found.
ok. now i hope pluto not a planet so i can be right again. -
i think since we already recognise pluto as a planet for so long. they decided to let it remain unchanged i think. maybe classifying under dwarf planets. xena is larger than plutoOriginally posted by digicharat:ok so... if pluto is not a planet... then im still correct. because you said new planet xena was found.
ok. now i hope pluto not a planet so i can be right again. -
damn the damned!Originally posted by anhydrouscoppersulphate:i think since we already recognise pluto as a planet for so long. they decided to let it remain unchanged i think. maybe classifying under dwarf planets. xena is larger than pluto
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imagine changing those primary school syllabus saying pluto is not actually a planetOriginally posted by digicharat:damn the damned! then those kids will go like omg we've been fooled -
mayb there are still more waiting for us to b discovered
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Furthest from the sun, Pluto comes under attack
PRAGUE (Reuters)
Despite being the farthest planet from Earth in our solar system, Pluto has come under attack from astronomers and may be about to lose its status in the battle.
Some 3,000 astronomers and scientists from around the world will meet in Prague this week to decide whether Pluto, discovered in 1930, measures up to the definition of a planet.
In defining for the first time what exactly a planet is, the International Astronomers Union (IAU) may be forced to downgrade Pluto's status, or add as many as 14 others.
Such a decision would send shockwaves through the scientific community, instantly outdate textbooks, and cause educators to re-teach the basics of our solar system.
"The pivotal question is the status of Pluto, which is clearly very different from Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune," Owen Gingerich, professor of Astronomy and History of Science emeritus at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics told Reuters.
Debate has raged within the scientific community over the status of Pluto for decades after the planet was found to be only one four-hundredths of the mass of the earth.
That discussion intensified in 2003 when astronomers at the California Institute of Technology discovered UB 313. Nicknamed Xena after the character in the television show, UB 313 is one of more than a dozen celestial bodies in our solar system found to be larger than Pluto.
Xena and Pluto are large icy bodies that reside in the Kuiper Belt -- where thousands of floating bodies travel -- beyond Neptune. Images from the Hubble Space Telescope put Xena's diameter at 1,490 miles or so. That is slightly bigger than Pluto, which measures 1,422 miles across.
Gingerich is the chair of a committee that was asked to come up with a definition of a planet and hand it to the IAU general assembly, which runs Aug. 14-25.
In the run-up to the assembly, emotions have been running high in both directions.
Some have appealed to Gingerich's group not to downgrade Pluto, saying it would disappoint children and throw our understanding of the universe into chaos.
Others say let the chips fall where they may and seem to relish the idea of overturning our current view of the universe.
Gingerich said that modern technologies have allowed scientists to delve into the solar system further, and in more detail, than ever before. Therefore, it is no surprise that questions on the fundamental assumptions of it are arising.
"Should it (Pluto), for historical reasons, be considered a planet like the rest?" Gingerich asks, refusing to tip his hand on how the seven-member group has agreed after deciding on the wording in June.
Scientists say the group may make a new class of planets that accepts large bodies such as Xena and Pluto that do not measure up to the eight larger planets. They could also drop Pluto's status as a planet or expand the list of planets to include many similarly-sized bodies found in the solar system. -
Didn't astronomers recently discover this celestial body orbiting the Sun beyond Pluto?
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Really? The DEATH STAR? Is grand moff tarkin commanding the station? If so i wish to lodge a complaint that his overbearing attitude is conduct unbecoming of an officer, and he should keep his dog of a darth vader on a leashOriginally posted by Meia Gisborn:Didn't astronomers recently discover this celestial body orbiting the Sun beyond Pluto? -
haha. so wat we've learnt in primary school all have gone to waste.
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it's just a human mentality to classify objects as planets, satellites, asteroids and what-nots....when in reality there are no clear boundaries differentiating these objects which are essentially the same along the spectrum
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personally(IMHO) i dont care whether they classify pluto as a planet or not
Y is it important to do so? break children heart?? have to hcange textbook?
i think is a waste of money having this kind of debate
p.s Science keeps changing as new discovery has been made..
some theories will no longer be valid as time goes on..
Remember the "Earth was the center of universe"
well just my 2 cents.. -
Some say 8, because they think Pluto is not a planet.
Some say 9, because they think Pluto is a planet.
Some say 10, because they think they discovered a new planet called Sedna.
What do you think? -
add as many as 14 others.
So now have more than 20 planets? -
as long there's one human can live on, the number is secondary
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i want my money back!Originally posted by ^tamago^:haha. so wat we've learnt in primary school all have gone to waste. -
No!! They cant do this to us!! History will be rewritten!
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Not just primary school. Secondary school, JC, Poly will have to be added to the list. Universities as well.Originally posted by ^tamago^:haha. so wat we've learnt in primary school all have gone to waste.
Only the stuff we learned in Kindergarten and at home is still useful. -
Its depends on how u DEFINE planet lo
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haix duno y a piece of rock in the sky need 3000 astronomer to debate whether its "A" or "B".
