24 sierpnia 2006

 

Pluto Is Gone; Mickey Very Depressed

The International Astronomical Union has demoted Pluto from full blown planet status. Which means that anyone who continues to refer to Pluto as a planet will be considered a "scab" astronomer.

This contraversey bloomed when a new object, 2003 UB313 (unofficially dubbed "Xena"), was discovered and many astronomers refused to call it a planet. The problem was that the object was actually bigger than Pluto, whose planetary status had also been in some dispute but is popularly refered to as a planet.

There was no definition for how small a planet could be. However, a large planet-like object could be considered a brown dwarf star if it was big enough.

There was an initial proposal that would have allowed "Xena," the asteroid Ceres and Pluto to be called planets. The trouble was that the definition (enough mass that gravity causes it to be round) also would have made Pluto's moon, Charon, a planet too. There were proposals regarding "dominance over a orbital region" and two classifications of planets that were rejected.
Now, there are eight planets and Pluto is a "dwarf planet," which isn't a planet. Got that?


Hasta la proxima. Do zobaczenia.

# posted by Tedski @ 1:27 PM
Comments:
Poor Mickey.
# posted by Anonymous Anonimowy : czwartek, sierpnia 24, 2006 7:17:00 PM
 
Got it. School children accross the US are now going to be sending them nasty letters in crayon on construction paper.
# posted by Blogger Elizabeth Rogers : czwartek, sierpnia 24, 2006 8:09:00 PM
 
Quite hilarious was the interview on NPR with a disgruntled astrologer. He was sticking to the pre-Copernican definition of a planet as an object that wanders relative to the "fixed stars."

This man actually gets paid to be an "astrologer." Is it any wonder that "intelligent design" is catually taken seriously in this country?
# posted by Anonymous Anonimowy : piątek, sierpnia 25, 2006 8:55:00 AM
 
Hey, there is good money in being an astrologer. It requires knowing how to be scientifically nonsensical in a serious way and then charging $50 a pop for a chart.

Besides, the field of astronomy owes its creation to astrology so it has not always been completely useless.
# posted by Blogger Elizabeth Rogers : piątek, sierpnia 25, 2006 5:57:00 PM
 
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