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Kovenant84
T-369 days
Kat: Awesome 
I was gonna amend my post to clarify that I hadn't heard of such a thing for planets, but I guess it does apply.
~kov.
I was gonna amend my post to clarify that I hadn't heard of such a thing for planets, but I guess it does apply.
~kov.
Like what? A Nebula that has some kind of lense effect? The atmosphere can make the moon appear bigger when it's standing very low, or other objects, because when the moon is near the horizon you suddenly have objects to compare the size with, as opposed to the rest of the sky, where the moon seems a lot smaller. But make a planet appear 10.000 times nearer than it really is? I dont know how that would be possibleKovenant84 said:
Kovenant84
T-369 days
La Rocque
I am that I am
solefald
Vheissu
...that Pluto isnt an official planet anymore?
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,3-2327187.html
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,3-2327187.html
solefald said:
Whatever tehy say: there's no more such definition as planet per se, whateverthefuck they call them, but they divide planets into "dwarf" (like Pluto now) and other kind (bigger, like Earth, Saturn and other 6 of Solar System). So, technically Pluto is still a planet. Just a smaller one.
Still makes little difference in the stock market.
La Rocque
I am that I am
For what its worth?
PRAGUE, Czech Republic (Aug. 24) - 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.
"Many more Plutos wait to be discovered," added Richard Binzel, a professor of planetary science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
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.
Experts said there could be dozens of dwarf planets catalogued across the solar system in the next few years.
NASA said Thursday that Pluto's demotion would not affect its $700 million New Horizons spacecraft mission, which earlier this year began a 9 1/2-year journey to the oddball object to unearth more of its secrets.
"We will continue pursuing exploration of the most scientifically interesting objects in the solar system, regardless of how they are categorized," Paul Hertz, chief scientist for the science mission directorate, said in a statement.
The decision on Pluto 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. In the end, only about 300 astronomers cast ballots.
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, has nicknamed Xena.
Charon, the largest of Pluto's three moons, is no longer under consideration for any special designation.
Brown, who watched the proceedings from Cal Tech, took Thursday's vote in stride -- even though his discovery won't be christened a planet.
"UB313 is the largest dwarf planet. That's kind of cool," he said.
PRAGUE, Czech Republic (Aug. 24) - 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.
"Many more Plutos wait to be discovered," added Richard Binzel, a professor of planetary science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
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.
Experts said there could be dozens of dwarf planets catalogued across the solar system in the next few years.
NASA said Thursday that Pluto's demotion would not affect its $700 million New Horizons spacecraft mission, which earlier this year began a 9 1/2-year journey to the oddball object to unearth more of its secrets.
"We will continue pursuing exploration of the most scientifically interesting objects in the solar system, regardless of how they are categorized," Paul Hertz, chief scientist for the science mission directorate, said in a statement.
The decision on Pluto 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. In the end, only about 300 astronomers cast ballots.
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, has nicknamed Xena.
Charon, the largest of Pluto's three moons, is no longer under consideration for any special designation.
Brown, who watched the proceedings from Cal Tech, took Thursday's vote in stride -- even though his discovery won't be christened a planet.
"UB313 is the largest dwarf planet. That's kind of cool," he said.
Magrathean
worldbuilder
in_absentia
Aurora Borealis
VultureCulture
Member
- Apr 3, 2006
- 93
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ask around in the dissection thread, maybe some of the gurus there know? after all, it's about fuzzy cosmic stuff and that.
Magrathean
worldbuilder
The size and orbit of Pluto have been known for decades (the ex-planet was discovered in 1930, if i'm not mistaken). They could have figured out it wasn't a planet back then.plintus said:
wildfyr
unus spiritus est
UndoControl said:
If the orbit was perfectly known - why it took almost a century to realize it was crossing Neptun's?
Another side of this is - there were 3 more (or how many?) planets of Pluto size, which could qualify for a planet of Solar system, discovered recently. They just went for quantity, not quality. And there should be a reason to gather all them in Czech Republic to drink some beer at the end of August :Smug:
Magrathean
worldbuilder
Okay, i don't know when it was discovered that its orbit crossed Neptune's, but Pluto should have stopped being a planet since they discovered that or since they started finding more objects its size (whichever happened first).plintus said:
Actually, they knew Pluto was crossing Neptune's path before they saw it, because of the way Neptune turns around the sun.
I think that's why Pluto was made a planet in the first place, the attention it got as people where looking for the "planet" that made Neptune take its path, so afterwards no one asked about the size anymore
I think that's why Pluto was made a planet in the first place, the attention it got as people where looking for the "planet" that made Neptune take its path, so afterwards no one asked about the size anymore
DYK that "The Little Mermaid" motion picture won 2 Oscars?
One for "Best Music, Original Score" and one for "Best Music, Original Song" (for the song "Under the Sea").
One for "Best Music, Original Score" and one for "Best Music, Original Song" (for the song "Under the Sea").
La Rocque
I am that I am
DYK the music business is a cruel and shallow money trench, a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free, and good men die like dogs. There's also a negative side
Rayna
Worlds shortest Feminist
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