Pluto is no longer a planet!
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PRAGUE, Czech Republic (AP) -- Leading astronomers declared Thursday that Pluto is no longer a planet under historic new guidelines that downsize the solar system from nine planets to eight.
After a tumultuous week of clashing over the essence of the cosmos, the International Astronomical Union stripped Pluto of the planetary status it has held since its discovery in 1930. The new definition of what is -- and isn't -- a planet fills a centuries-old black hole for scientists who have labored since Copernicus without one.
Although astronomers applauded after the vote, Jocelyn Bell Burnell -- a specialist in neutron stars from Northern Ireland who oversaw the proceedings -- urged those who might be "quite disappointed" to look on the bright side.
"It could be argued that we are creating an umbrella called 'planet' under which the dwarf planets exist," she said, drawing laughter by waving a stuffed Pluto of Walt Disney fame beneath a real umbrella.
The decision by the prestigious international group spells out the basic tests that celestial objects will have to meet before they can be considered for admission to the elite cosmic club.
For now, membership will be restricted to the eight "classical" planets in the solar system: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune.
Much-maligned Pluto doesn't make the grade under the new rules for a planet: "a celestial body that is in orbit around the sun, has sufficient mass for its self-gravity to overcome rigid body forces so that it assumes a ... nearly round shape, and has cleared the neighborhood around its orbit."
Pluto is automatically disqualified because its oblong orbit overlaps with Neptune's.
Instead, it will be reclassified in a new category of "dwarf planets," similar to what long have been termed "minor planets." The definition also lays out a third class of lesser objects that orbit the sun -- "small solar system bodies," a term that will apply to numerous asteroids, comets and other natural satellites.
It was unclear how Pluto's demotion might affect the mission of NASA's New Horizons spacecraft, which earlier this year began a 91/2-year journey to the oddball object to unearth more of its secrets.
The decision at a conference of 2,500 astronomers from 75 countries was a dramatic shift from just a week ago, when the group's leaders floated a proposal that would have reaffirmed Pluto's planetary status and made planets of its largest moon and two other objects. (Watch why some think planet size doesn't matter -- 3:39)
That plan proved highly unpopular, splitting astronomers into factions and triggering days of sometimes combative debate that led to Pluto's undoing.
Now, two of the objects that at one point were cruising toward possible full-fledged planethood will join Pluto as dwarfs: the asteroid Ceres, which was a planet in the 1800s before it got demoted, and 2003 UB313, an icy object slightly larger than Pluto whose discoverer, Michael Brown of the California Institute of Technology, has nicknamed "Xena."
Charon, the largest of Pluto's three moons, is no longer under consideration for any special designation.
Brown was pleased by the decision. He had argued that Pluto and similar bodies didn't deserve planet status, saying that would "take the magic out of the solar system."
"UB313 is the largest dwarf planet. That's kind of cool," he said. -
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- The American astronomer who put Pluto on the solar system map would have accepted its demotion to non-planet status because he was a good scientist, his widow said on Thursday.
"Clyde said, 'Well, it's there. You can do what you want with it,'" Patricia Tombaugh, 94, said from her home in Las Cruces, New Mexico, after the International Astronomical Union downgraded husband Clyde Tombaugh's crowning achievement.
Tombaugh was 24 years old and working at the Lowell Observatory in Arizona in 1930 when he discovered Pluto, which was then considered the ninth planet in the solar system and the one most distant from the sun.
Patricia Tombaugh told Reuters by phone that her husband was frustrated and disappointed when scientists began questioning whether Pluto had the right stuff to be a planet.
The International Astronomical Union made it official in Prague on Thursday when it voted to demote Pluto to "dwarf planet" status.
Tombaugh said her husband, who died in 1997 at the age of 90, would have accepted the news with scientific detachment.
"Clyde would have said, 'Science is a progressive thing and if you're going to be a scientist and put your neck out, you're apt to have it bitten upon,'" she said.
"He was a good scientist and he knew how to judge things."
But Tombaugh's widow was feeling a little sad about the lost status.
"Well, we had a job to do -- a position with the whole community, the whole world for that matter," Patricia Tombaugh said. "We did our thing and now it's over, I guess."
Tombaugh's interest in astronomy dated to his childhood in Kansas.
He vowed he had seen two unidentified flying objects in New Mexico. Despite Pluto's reclassification, Tombaugh still has a substantial legacy in space. He discovered several asteroids, naming some after his wife, children and grandchildren. Another scientist named an asteroid after him, 1604 Tombaugh.
A tiny portion of his ashes are aboard a research spacecraft expected to pass near Pluto on July 14, 2015. -
Pluto is even smaller than our Moon.Originally posted by NewAge:i dont underrstand why pluto is call drawf planet? Isn't it bigger than the 8. -
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2006_redefinition_of_planet
quoted:
The final definition, as passed on 24 August 2006 [30], is
2006 redefinition of planet
The IAU...resolves that planets and other bodies in our Solar System be defined into three distinct categories in the following way:
(1) A "planet" [1] is a celestial body that: (a) is in orbit around the Sun, (b) has sufficient mass for its self-gravity to overcome rigid body forces so that it assumes a hydrostatic equilibrium (nearly round) shape, and (c) has cleared the neighbourhood around its orbit.
(2) A "dwarf planet" is a celestial body that: (a) is in orbit around the Sun, (b) has sufficient mass for its self-gravity to overcome rigid body forces so that it assumes a hydrostatic equilibrium (nearly round) shape [2], (c) has not cleared the neighbourhood around its orbit, and (d) is not a satellite.
(3) All other objects [3] except satellites orbiting the Sun shall be referred to collectively as "Small Solar System Bodies".
Footnotes:
[1] The eight planets are: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune.
[2] An IAU process will be established to assign borderline objects into either "dwarf planet" and other categories.
[3] These currently include most of the Solar System asteroids, most Trans-Neptunian Objects (TNOs), comets, and other small bodies.
The IAU further resolves:
Pluto is a "dwarf planet" by the above definition and is recognized as the prototype of a new category of trans-Neptunian objects.
2006 redefinition of planet -
have to relearn my sci again
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this was how i remembered our solar syst last time.
"Miss Venus Excalimed, Michael Jackson Sips Urine, No Problem!"
Mercury,Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto.
haha!! now need to change liao.
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Just changed Sips to Slips. And there you go.Originally posted by saline:this was how i remembered our solar syst last time.
"Miss Venus Excalimed, Michael Jackson Sips Urine, No Problem!"
Mercury,Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto.
haha!! now need to change liao. -
hai.. this is so sad.. Pluto had been demoted..
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Actually also makes sense...if i remember corectly its just a rock of ice...no core also...might a rock thats chipped off from UR-anus
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so, wat did pluto say?
i think there will be a war soon -
Nope. it's sec 2 geoOriginally posted by ditzy:Oh, geography gce o levels going to be revised. -
The full IAU resolution of the definition of a planet reads:
The IAU therefore resolves that "planets" and other bodies in our Solar System be defined into three distinct categories in the following way:
(1) A "planet"1 is a celestial body that (a) is in orbit around the Sun, (b) has sufficient mass for its self-gravity to overcome rigid body forces so that it assumes a hydrostatic equilibrium (nearly round) shape, and (c) has cleared the neighbourhood around its orbit.
(2) A "dwarf planet" is a celestial body that (a) is in orbit around the Sun, (b) has sufficient mass for its self-gravity to overcome rigid body forces so that it assumes a hydrostatic equilibrium (nearly round) shape2 , (c) has not cleared the neighbourhood around its orbit, and (d) is not a satellite.
(3) All other objects3 except satellites orbiting the Sun shall be referred to collectively as "Small Solar-System Bodies".
1The eight planets are: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune.
2An IAU process will be established to assign borderline objects into either dwarf planet and other categories.
3These currently include most of the Solar System asteroids, most Trans-Neptunian Objects (TNOs), comets, and other small bodies. -
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yah lor... Pluto or Hades very poor thing. last time after toppling the Titans, Zeus and Poseidon already bully this brother of theirs, let Hades take the crappiest realm - the underworld.Originally posted by kiss_my (_i_):so, wat did pluto say?
i think there will be a war soon
Now the planet named after him is demoted to a dwarf planet. I think Hades will take more people into his underworld to vent his frustration liaoz -
shows how incredible big space isOriginally posted by nightzip:
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this is a really significant event in history, its almost as important as the day when man found out that earth was not the center of the Universe...Originally posted by Texcoco II:PRAGUE, Czech Republic - Leading astronomers declared Thursday that Pluto is no longer a planet under historic new guidelines that downsize the solar system from nine planets to eight. After a tumultuous week of clashing over the essence of the cosmos, the International Astronomical Union stripped Pluto of the planetary status it has held since its discovery in 1930. -
Originally posted by Texcoco II:PRAGUE, Czech Republic - Leading astronomers declared Thursday that Pluto is no longer a planet under historic new guidelines that downsize the solar system from nine planets to eight. After a tumultuous week of clashing over the essence of the cosmos, the International Astronomical Union stripped Pluto of the planetary status it has held since its discovery in 1930.
got pwned =POriginally posted by Gordonator:i read in mypaper today that not only are they not gonna take out Pluto, they are going to add in 3 more planets into the solar system, making the total no. of planets to 12. -
lmao hundreds of plutos could fit into Jupiter, dude.Originally posted by NewAge:i dont underrstand why pluto is call drawf planet? Isn't it bigger than the 8. -
Watch the skies at 12.30 am on 27th Aug. You might see a red moon.. -
pluto is the dung that came out of ur-anusOriginally posted by lpx88:Actually also makes sense...if i remember corectly its just a rock of ice...no core also...might a rock thats chipped off from UR-anus -
Originally posted by SixSentinels:pluto is the dung that came out of ur-anus
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We dont want neptune... take it out and named pluto as planet..... woof woof
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faster faster! go liquid all the posters in schools that got pluto in them!
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Since when syllabus change?Originally posted by NewAge:i dont underrstand why pluto is call drawf planet? Isn't it bigger than the 8.