Pluto is a Fraud

[PsychicWarVeteran]

I searched the fora and didn't see this topic started yet, so...

We now only have eight official planets.

Astronomers have voted to strip Pluto of its status as a planet.

About 2,500 scientists meeting in Prague have adopted historic new guidelines that see the small, distant world demoted to a secondary category...

Pluto, which was discovered in 1930 by the American Clyde Tombaugh, will be referred to as a "dwarf planet"...

The scientists agreed that for a celestial body to qualify as a planet:

• it must be in orbit around the Sun
• it must be large enough that it takes on a nearly round shape
• it has cleared its orbit of other objects

Pluto was automatically disqualified because its highly elliptical orbit overlaps with that of Neptune. It will now join a new category of dwarf planets.

So, you know, all this time Pluto's been tooling around, taking advantage of all the benefits of being a planet when it didn't deserve those benefits! Pluto is a fraud!

Anybody really care?

<shameless self-promotion>Git yer "Pluto is a Fraud" t-shirts right here!</shameless self-promotion>

[Madrigal Rose]

LOL! Shameless, indeed! Cool designs, BTW.

Those Astromony-types certainly care!


And all those planet mobiles...

[Idiot_Savant]

I could care less

[Hieronymus]

How can do the astrologers now?

[David Mosley]

Astronomers have voted to strip Pluto of its status as a planet.

About 2,500 scientists meeting in Prague have adopted historic new guidelines that see the small, distant world demoted to a secondary category...

Actually that report is more than slightly inaccurate:

A fierce backlash has begun against the decision by astronomers to strip Pluto of its status as a planet.

On Thursday, experts approved a definition of a planet that demoted Pluto to a lesser category of object.

But the lead scientist on Nasa's robotic mission to Pluto has lambasted the ruling, calling it "embarrassing".

And the chair of the committee set up to oversee agreement on a definition implied that the vote had effectively been "hijacked".

The vote took place at the International Astronomical Union's (IAU) 10-day General Assembly in Prague. The IAU has been the official naming body for astronomy since 1919.

Only 424 astronomers who remained in Prague for the last day of the meeting took part...

Alan Stern [said]: "I was not allowed to vote because I was not in a room in Prague on Thursday 24th. Of 10,000 astronomers, 4% were in that room - you can't even claim consensus.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/5283956.stm

By the sounds of it, Pluto's demotion was something of a coup d'&#233;tat and there's more than a hint of skullduggery about the way the vote was organised. I suspect this one will run and run...

[PsychicWarVeteran]

Interesting stuff, David. I suspect you are right. I was just trying to be funny, but it seems some find this no laughing matter.

[David Mosley]

I was just trying to be funny, but it seems some find this no laughing matter.

Well, my alternate post was going to be:

So, you know, all this time Pluto's been tooling around, taking advantage of all the benefits of being a planet when it didn't deserve those benefits! Pluto is a fraud!

As Pluto's owner, Mickey Mouse is sentenced to 120 hours community service...

[PsychicWarVeteran]

Awesome! What a great photo!

I actually designed a t-shirt with Pluto the dog. It had "NOT A PLANET" with an arrow pointing down to Pluto's smiling head. As clever as I thought it was, I decided I didn't want to have my pants sued off by the ever-litigious Disney and didn't publish it.

[David Mosley]

Awesome! What a great photo!

Just a little bit of Photoshop magic-trickery.

[lemec]

Interesting stuff!



-but, now I don't now if my view of the world is shattered or not!


will there be a new vote? haha

[Grey Mouser]

I can see I'm not the only one who thought of the squeaky voiced one's canine sidekick when seeing the title of this thread.

Does this mean Pluto is more of a large moon? Can't really take the title of dwarf planet seriously.

[Doc]

The demotion seems odd, particularly since they are calling it a "dwarf planet" now. What does that even mean?

A few questions if anyone has followed this-
Isn't part of Pluto's demotion explained by the discovery of many planet-like bodies orbiting the sun far beyond Pluto's orbit? Astronomers want a way to address their discovery without calling them planets.

Also, isn't Mercury quite small, as well? I seem to remember that it is barely the size of Pluto, but no one seems to be in a hurry to demote it. Maybe because it is so close to the sun...

[PsychicWarVeteran]

Size does matter... but only a little

Also, isn't Mercury quite small, as well? I seem to remember that it is barely the size of Pluto, but no one seems to be in a hurry to demote it. Maybe because it is so close to the sun...

Evidently, they came up with three rules for determining whether a rock in space is actually a planet, only one of which pertains to size directly. I guess another important thing is its ability to dominate its orbit, which they say it cannot do because its orbit overlaps that of Neptune. Should the two ever collide, Neptune would be the victor, absorbing Pluto. Thus, they say, Pluto cannot be a planet.

Whatever.

[Hawksun]

Pluto is a Fraud

Originally Written by Jonti Picking and Chris Vick
Bob: "Why would Science lie to me like that? I... thought it cared."
Weebl: "Well it doesn't!"

(for those unfamiliar with the weird, wonderful and pie-fixated world of Weebl and Bob, the above is from http://www.weebls-stuff.com/wab/hot/)

[PsychicWarVeteran]

I LOVE Weebl & Bob! Nice, Hawksun.

Science doesn't care. It's cold and calculating, and it tells it as it is without regard for anyone's sensitivities.

Of course, sometimes science disagrees with itself and has to have a clandestine vote on the topic of Planet Status.