Text book publishers must be creaming in their pants

Dregor Thule · Post by **Dregor Thule** » August 24, 2006, 11:49 am

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 9 1/2-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.

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 in Pasadena has nicknamed Xena.

Charon, the largest of Pluto's three moons, is no longer under consideration for any special designation.

Glad that's finally decided. It'll of course take awhile to change the worlds perception about Pluto being a planet, but I think it's the right call. Definitely better than the initial proposal that would have added 3 more planets. Speaking of which, I have to ask how a moon could have been in contention for being named a planet. My definition of a moon involves orbiting around a planet, whereas a planet has always been considered orbiting around the sun... I don't see why they would even entertain the thought.

Nick · Post by **Nick** » August 24, 2006, 12:22 pm

AFAIK Pluto's and it's moon orbit around each other, with the gravitational centre lying between the both of them (unlike other planets and moons).

This is why there is a degree of ambiguity about the moon in question and ultimately Pluto itself.

Personally I couldn't give a shit if there were 3 more planets, I think it would be cool. Removing planetary status for Pluto is a bit pointless imo.

Siji · Post by **Siji** » August 24, 2006, 1:00 pm

It'll be a generation before 76 years worth of planetary status is forgotten. And as said above, for anyone not a serious enthusiast or in the field of work where this matter - it's pointless.

Vaemas · Post by **Vaemas** » August 24, 2006, 2:05 pm

Shit, text book publishers cream their pants every semester. There is ALWAYS some slight change that necessitates a new edition of the book.

Fuck them. $580 from the campus bookstore and another $23 from Amazon for this semester.

Assholes.

Oh yeah. And thoses books from the campus bookstore? 3 of the 5 were used.

*~*stragi*~* · Post by ***~*stragi*~*** » August 24, 2006, 2:44 pm

pluto will always be a planet in my heart

Post by **Sylvus** » August 24, 2006, 3:15 pm

Yeah but is Goofy still a dog?? Dogs can't talk so I think he should be reclassified.

hahahahahah

I'm not really trying to pretend that that was funny. sorry

Lynks · Post by **Lynks** » August 24, 2006, 4:06 pm

Stand by me wrote:Gordie: Mickey is a mouse, Donald is a duck, Pluto is a dog. What's Goofy...?
Teddy: He's a dog, he's definitely a dog...
Chris: He can't be a dog, he wears a hat and drives a car...
Vern: Yeah, that is weird. What the hell is Goofy?

kyoukan · Post by **kyoukan** » August 24, 2006, 4:55 pm

Its big and round and orbits the fucking sun. it's a planet. there, I just solved the issue and no one had to vote and a billion text books don't have to be changed.

masteen · Post by **masteen** » August 24, 2006, 5:03 pm

Kyoukan, you are a true scientician.

kyoukan · Post by **kyoukan** » August 24, 2006, 5:32 pm

At least I don't think science is a democracy. What is the next move for these geniuses? Declare Jupiter habitable with a two thirds majority?

Cotto · Post by **Cotto** » August 24, 2006, 5:58 pm

man, those Plutonian's are gonna be soo pissed.

Kylere · Post by **Kylere** » August 24, 2006, 6:44 pm

groan I HAVE to

No Matter what they call it, Pluto will still be nearer uranus than us

Al · Post by Al » August 25, 2006, 1:59 am

kyoukan wrote:At least I don't think science is a democracy.

The vote was on the definition of the term "planet", which could have had many different meanings before today. They decided on a wording that would give us 8 "Planets" and numerous "Dwarf Planets" rather than a wording leaving us with numerous "Planets" just so Pluto can be involved. I don't understand why they couldn't include Pluto on a sort of grandfather clause, but I didn't get invited to the meeting.

Neost · Post by **Neost** » August 25, 2006, 7:55 am

Phil Plait over at badastronomy.com had some interesting things to point out about the overall situation with the IAU's attempt to define what constitutes a planet:

http://www.badastronomy.com

Deward · Post by **Deward** » August 25, 2006, 9:48 am

When I was working on my masters, I only had to buy one book maybe two at full price. First off I always checked ebay first. Chances are you can find the exact same book for a hell of a lot cheaper. There are several other web sites where you can buy cheap used books as well. The other resource that is not as well known is called Interlibrary Loan. Most, if not all, college libraries have an ILL department. Go there and request the book you want and they will find it almost anywhere in the country FOR FREE. Once you check it out and renew it a couple times the semester might almost be over. If not, photocopy the last few chapters and turn it back in. PRESTO no more new book fees.

Vaemas · Post by **Vaemas** » August 25, 2006, 10:00 am

Dew,

That works great in theory. Except I've been burned by the "used ebay books" before where they're the softbound edition printed in black and white in India. Not to mention that some of the required bullshit books are special printed editions especially for the school.

Or, like the most recent fuckup, one Finance faculty member decided to use one book for the course I'm in without telling my professor that he was changing the course material. So it's all screwed up anyway.

I just can't wait to graduate.

Spang · Post by **Spang** » August 25, 2006, 12:59 pm

science needs more faith

Post by **Sylvus** » August 25, 2006, 4:33 pm

Interplanetary Social Chat #45089

Jice Virago · Post by **Jice Virago** » August 25, 2006, 5:00 pm

Pluto got reclassified because the new standard is that a body has to have formed into a spherical mass from its own gravity and have cleared its own orbit of other objects. Pluto meets the first criteria (and I think even has water) but its orbit is not along the plane of the solar system shared by most other planetary bodies and it intersects Neptune's orbit. My personal thought is the first criteria should be enough and several moons should probably be reclassified as planets in their own right, like the larger ones around Saturn and Jupiter. I would not be suprised if gas giants get reclassified into something else, either, since it could be argued that they are mini solar systems in their own right.

Arborealus · Post by **Arborealus** » August 25, 2006, 6:40 pm

Actually this will all be revised again when we begin understanding other planetary systems and their evolution...Science doesn't carve things in stone...When they find a better way to describe something they change to it..."Planet" has always had a rather vague definition...Scientists hate vague...

VariaVespasa · Post by **VariaVespasa** » August 25, 2006, 7:45 pm

I'm not sure I understand how Pluto intersecting Neptunes orbit disqualifies Pluto, but not Neptune. If Plutos orbit isnt clear, neither is Neptunes... Oh well.

*Hugs*
Varia

Dregor Thule · Post by **Dregor Thule** » August 25, 2006, 11:13 pm

I think it has to do with the fact that Neptune has a standard orbit around the sun like the other planets, whereas Pluto's orbit is very oblong. Also I believe that Pluto is just one of numerous icy objects (Xena being another of them). I could be wrong tho.

Arborealus · Post by **Arborealus** » August 27, 2006, 3:00 pm

Dregor Thule wrote:I think it has to do with the fact that Neptune has a standard orbit around the sun like the other planets, whereas Pluto's orbit is very oblong. Also I believe that Pluto is just one of numerous icy objects (Xena being another of them). I could be wrong tho.

Pluto, Charon, Xena etc are Kuiper Belt Objects so you are right and there are lots of Kuiper Belt objects.

Pluto's orbit is unusually eccentric and actually given sufficient time Neptune will clear Pluto/Charon from it's orbit. Pluto's orbit is also 15+ degrees out of the ecliptic.

There are thousands and thousands of measurable objects orbiting the Sun. As technology advances we are better able to find and track progressively smaller objects. So we either keep adding to the list forever or just draw a line arbitrarily and say we are done.

Most ways you draw that line logically exclude Pluto or include dozens of other objects. So drawing the line excluding Pluto makes the most sense.

Which really makes Tombaugh's discovery that much more impressive. That's an itty bitty dirty ice ball way the hell off that he found.

Nick · Post by **Nick** » August 27, 2006, 3:10 pm

In my heart, Pluto will always be a legitimate Planet!

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » August 27, 2006, 3:41 pm

From ~1979 to ~1999, Neptune was the farthest planet from the Sun. That used to be my favorite nerdy bet as a kid if I needed a free coke or something.

Now, on to the exploded planet theory for the Kuiper Belt!