ONLY EIGHT!

[Alec Walter Conway]

Down to eight planets.

Pluto was kicked out! I'm sure it'll all leave a terrible scorch mark upon your minds.

Okay, seriously, this is MAJOR scientific news. At the rythm at which we discovered new small planetoids similar in size to Pluto, we'd have ended up with over a hundred planets in our solar system within a year or two. Ridiculous

SO they decided to redifine the word "planet" AND they introduced a new term, that being "dwarf planet".

A "planet" (1) is 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.

A "dwarf planet" is 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 (2), (c) has not cleared the neighbourhood around its orbit, and (d) is not a satellite.

All other objects (3) orbiting the Sun shall be referred to collectively as "Small Solar System Bodies".

 

[Thidrek]

wow, that's heavy stuff!
but.. WHO decided it? the nasa, some commitee, ...?

I think it's kinda hard to inform and convince all the people still believing the pluto is (still) a planet.

 

[Alec Walter Conway]

The decision was taken by the IAU => International Astronomical Union.

 

[rammpeth]

i heard it was a close call

 

[Braighs]

This should have been done years ago.

I assume Pluto failed criterium "C".

have we found anything else around Sedna's orbit?

 

[Alec Walter Conway]

Not yet... and taking in count that Sedna takes 12,000 years to do one revolution around the sun, it might actually take a while before we can tell if her orbit is cleared or not... lol

This is amazing though, the last time Sedna was in the immediate area of the solar system, it was back in the last ice age. Crazy stuff. Imagine if there's someone sitting on that rock, the last time he passed close and looked at us, Earth was still wild and we guys were still making fire with silex. They'd be like "well look at that, they have some nice machines but they're still as stupid"

 

[Braighs]

Good points!
I wish that guy luck on his icy journey.

 

[George]

What a sad day. Pluto will always be number nine to me! I don't care what those nerds at the International Astronomical Union say.

 

[IdolWarship]

i agree with george. :Spin:

what kind of message does this send to the midgets of the world? oh, we've always classified you as people, but you're too small, and a commitee has decided you can't be an actual person, sorry.

pluto rules! icy, grim, desolate.

is the name plutonium derived from pluto?

plutonium rules too!

r.i.p. pluto

 

[Alec Walter Conway]

Well its more like they created the "dwarf-planet" category and made Pluto the "boss" of that category. Pluto is like the "typical example" of the dwarf-planet.

More like a promotion than a demotion to my eyes

 

[rammpeth]

plutos the new sun of the little planets

 

[Alec Walter Conway]

As in the Sun being the first example of the "average-joe star" category, yeah, sort of lol.

 

[rammpeth]

lol.well,,i didnt really think what i posted i just felt pluttos like the "big" and most important of the dwarf planets