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New definition could add 53 more planets to our solar system
Submitted by Capt. Xerox on August 16, 2006 - 1:36pm.
The discovery of Xena last year prompted the International Astronomical Union to create a formal definition of what is a planet. They'll vote on a proposal on August 24 that will not only keep Pluto as a planet, but also include Xena, Pluto's moon Charon and even former asteroid Ceres. Under the new definitions, we could see dozens more planets added to the original nine that we learned about in school. That will certainly give Ben Bova more to write about in his Grand Tour series.
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HELP SAVE the honorable "Mervem J. Saturn" (formerly Puh -Ed)
bloody hell, I made up my own mneumonic device for your (*cough* _the_., ixnay on the alienay alktay - Ed) solar system when I was a laddie-buck and didn't yet know that a commonly used one existed.
Traditionally as everyone (now - Ed) knows it's "M)y V)ery E)xcellent M)other J)ust S)ent U)s N)ine P)izzas"
Not knowing this at the time, my approach was to anthropomorphize our solar system into a person, a right honourable "Mervem J. Saturn Puh" (p actually for pluto natch but prounounced puh just to be incredibly silly, as we are wont to be when kids)
Now If the IAU accepts the proposed draft definition the solar system’s planets would jump to 12 and be (to start with):
Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Ceres, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto, Charon and 2003 UB313 aka Xena (official name not yet designated)
So, for my childhood mneumonics to endure that'd become "Mervem c J Saturn P c Xena".
Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm(n)
"Mervem sees J. Saturn, P sees Xena"
*pause*
or
"Mervem sees J. Saturn Pee, sees Xena"
Mervem J. Saturn Puh no longer sounds like a slightly suspect foreigner of possible dubious royal heritage (..with two last names - Ed) now he sounds like a suspect voyeur about to be throttled by a large amazon woman.
(You know anyone named Mervem would SO go for getting his posterior whooped by an Amazon Xena - Ed)
Be that as it may, I put it to you, IAU, please Drop Pluto instead of expanding the solar system! as this way, Mervem J. Saturn lives.
(yes, appealing to their sympathy for the life of a fictional character - that''ll work - eesh - Ed)
Failing that, suggs are being taken 'ere on the expansion of the traditional mneumonic format.
http://blog.sciam.com/index.php?title=planet_mnemonic_contest&more=1&c=1&tb=1&pb=1&ref=rss
Hmmmmmmmmmmm(n) thus far I like:
"My very eccentric mother curiously just showed us nine Chihuahuas playing xylophones"
und
"My Very Excitable Mother Can't Journey Significantly, Unless Northwest's Planes Carry Xanax "
The Avante Guardian. ---- Einstein's Hair^2 //Approved.
This message brought to you by the Help Save Mervem J. Saturn, drop Pluto as a Planet! campaign.
It's ALIVE, ALIVE ALIVE Mervem J. Saturn LIVES! Pluto Dropped.
Technically, I head out for vacation Friday (tomorrow - Ed) and while I ought be busy packing and the like, I just had to get a comment on this in before I left:
Yes, mein "Help Save Mervem J. Saturn! Drop Pluto as a Planet Campaign!" has
(yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeees? - Ed)
OK my campaign is largely irrelevant in the larger scheme of things as I hadn't managed to get the dancing celestial bodies (The Vivian Twins in Bikinis - Ed) out to IAU committee meeting in time, but point being, Pluto was dropped as a planet.
ergo
Mervem J. Saturn LIVES AGAIN!
YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY!
*tug down on shirt*
Sorry, relapse.
Word came down today:
---
BEGIN IAU Voting Results Excerpt (IAU Resolution 5a "Definition of a Planet")
The IAU members gathered at the 2006 General Assembly agreed that a "planet" is defined as 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.
This means that the Solar System consists of eight "planets" Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. A new distinct class of objects called "dwarf planets" was also decided. It was agreed that "planets" and "dwarf planets" are two distinct classes of objects. The first members of the "dwarf planet" category are Ceres, Pluto and 2003 UB313 (temporary name). More "dwarf planets" are expected to be announced by the IAU in the coming months and years. Currently a dozen candidate "dwarf planets" are listed on IAU's "dwarf planet" watchlist, which keeps changing as new objects are found and the physics of the existing candidates becomes better known.
The "dwarf planet" Pluto is recognised as an important proto-type of a new class of trans-Neptunian objects. The IAU will set up a process to name these objects.
Below are the planet definition Resolutions that were passed.
rest of IAU article here: http://www.iau2006.org/mirror/www.iau.org/iau0603/index.html
---
Hoo-Haw.
MER)cury V)enus E)arth M)ars J)upiter SAT)urn UR)anus N)eptune - Mervem J. Saturn Lives.
(oh dear, he's going to be insufferable for quite awhile now - Ed)
Am not.
*jig up and down the TWATEOTU courtyard*
[Pathud]
The Avante Guardian. ---- Einstein's Hair^2 //Approved.
Bring back Pluto!
Anyone born before 2006 will always think of Pluto as a planet. It's sort of like kids who learned the imperial measurement system before the conversion to metric. They'll always measure things in feet, not metres. I'm one of those kids and I still think of Pluto as a planet.
C.X.
By the moons of Pluto!
I noticed this link in my collection and thought this might be a good place to dump it. With all the news about the demotion of Pluto, not many people mentioned the story from earlier in the summer about Pluto's three moons. Many of you are probably aware of it's moon Charon, which I think is now classified as a dwarf planet (or is it a dwarf moon?)
It turns out the tiny world has two other moons, which have been dubbed Nix and Hydra. With all of this crap orbitting around Pluto, it's still not considered a planet. Puhlease.
C.X.
NASA Names Newest Spacecraft
NASA has been working on a new spacecraft to take humans back to the Moon, and eventually to Mars. Until recently, the vehicle has had the super secret codename: ZITA- Zarniwhooper Is Totally Awesome[1] but an astronaut on the International Space Station inadvertently disclosed the name of the vehicle when talking to mission control on an unencrypted space-to-ground radio.
"US space agency Nasa has named its new manned exploration craft Orion.
It is hoped the name Orion could eventually mean as much for manned space exploration as Apollo did in the 1960s and 1970s."
Orion is named after the constellation, which is one of the brightest and most easily identified in the sky. Orion sits on the Celestial Equator, too, so it can be seen from just about anywhere on the planet.
The vehicle (and the entire program) is really cool, and a fantastic replacement for the retiring space shuttle: two rockets will launch, one carrying the crew (the Crew Exploration Vehicle or CEV) and the other carrying the equipment for the landing. The two vehicles will enter orbit around Earth, where the crew will hook up with the lander and its attached "departure module" which gives the crew a boost to get to the Moon. Once there, they climb into the lander, do their thing on the Moon, then hook up with the CEV (which remains in computer-controlled orbit around the Moon) for the trip back to Earth.
The vehicle can also be modified slightly to service the ISS, and each CEV has ten uses before NASA sends it upstate to live on a farm.
The first scheduled flight will be to the ISS sometime before 2014, and its first flight to the Moon will happen before 2020.
[1] That's not true. I completely made that up[2]
[2] Also not true.
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