Pluto is no longer considered a planet

[iPatcH]

So now it's only a dwarf planet, bringing our solar system count to 8 planets.

What a sad day it is. =(

[Deeks]

Re: Pluto is no longer considered a planet

those bastards, i never recieved that memo

[iPatcH]

Re: Pluto is no longer considered a planet

This happened just yesterday:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pluto#Reclassification_to_a_dwarf_planet

[Deeks]

Re: Pluto is no longer considered a planet

still no memo

[GuidoHunter]

Re: Pluto is no longer considered a planet

I was actually pretty surprised to hear this. First of all, we've known for a decent while that Pluto shouldn't be a planet simply because were it discovered today we would dub it a Kuyper Belt Object. But, I figured we'd never demote it just because we've gone and called it a planet for decades and changing it wouldn't really do much good, but it would be a pain in the ass to change everything.

THEN, I heard recently that there were deliberations to up our planet count to TWELVE. Some committee was going to actually set down a definition of what a planet is. The three criteria would be:

1. It's sufficiently big so that its shape is defined by its internal gravity and not by its material composition
2. It's not big enough to have nuclear fusion going on in its core (it's not a star)
3. It goes 'round a star and not a planet

This would jave added the biggest asteroid in the asteroid belt, Ceres; Pluto's "moon" Charon (in some weird occurrance, the center of rotation of Pluto and Charon is outside of Pluto's surface, so they both revolve around some invisible point, instead of Charon revolving around Pluto, as does our moon about us; and 2003 UB313, better known as Xena, with its moon Gabrielle.

But apparently that fell through, and they just cut Pluto out. =\

--Guido

http://andy.mikee385.com

[Cj_leonine]

Re: Pluto is no longer considered a planet

Wow that was pretty interesting to read. Guido you're smart.

But wow, are they going to start telling everyone in school that Pluto is no longer a planet.

[Squeek]

Re: Pluto is no longer considered a planet

Finally.

Pluto sucked.

[stretchypanda]

Re: Pluto is no longer considered a planet

stfu Squeek. This has destroyed my life.

I think I'm more okay with eight planets than this whole "sub-planet" concept.

[Squeek]

Re: Pluto is no longer considered a planet

Would you rather have MORE planets?

I've agreed for a long time that if you'll consider Pluto a planet, you have to add more. Frankly, I don't want to have to know more about crap we can hardly see when taking gen. ed Astronomy.

Then again, whenever we got to Pluto it was like, "Ok. Pluto. It's small. It's icy. Has this odd orbit. Passes Neptune. That's about all we know."

[vashthestampede0987]

Re: Pluto is no longer considered a planet

They changed the pneumonic device to "My Very Excellent Mother Just Served Us Nachos" Or something like that...>_< I heard about this in the news a couple days ago as well

[flypie743]

Re: Pluto is no longer considered a planet

Pluto will always be a true planet IN MY HEART.

[stretchypanda]

Re: Pluto is no longer considered a planet

Pluto will always be a true planet IN MY HEART.

BACK IN MY DAY...

[GuidoHunter]

Re: Pluto is no longer considered a planet

Would you rather have MORE planets?

I've agreed for a long time that if you'll consider Pluto a planet, you have to add more.

If it meant having a good, concrete definition of a planet, then yes, I'd rather have more planets.

I disagree with your second statement, though. Though we SHOULD add more pluto-like planets, there's nothing to say we HAD to. Sort of like house rules in a board game, viz. "well, we were wrong when we discovered it, but we were dumb back then, so we'll just keep it as is to avoid complicating things and not make that mistake in the future."

pneumonic device

Amazing how much humor one extraneous u can add to a phrase... Erm, and the wrong beginning letter...

Also, there's not one official mnemonic. I learned "My Very Elegant Mother Joined Some Un-Necessary Program."

Like with Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, Family, Genus, Species, you could use what they teach you in class: "King Philip Crossed Over From German Soil", or you could use what TV Funhouse taught: "Kyle, Please Come Over For Gay Sex." The latter works better for me.

--Guido

http://andy.mikee385.com

[bobbycat73]

Re: Pluto is no longer considered a planet

My
Very
Excited (WOOOOO LETS GO EARTH!)
Mother
Just
Served
Nine
Pizzas
Cars
2003 UB 313
A
K
A
Lesbians

[stretchypanda]

Re: Pluto is no longer considered a planet

My
Very
Excited (WOOOOO LETS GO EARTH!)
Mother
Just
Served
Nine
Pizzas
Cars
2003 UB 313
A
K
A
Lesbians

Dude they have to be in order.