Solar System Shrinks

[Danugh]

Pluto, they say, is no longer a planet. This news is very unsettling. If anything they should have left Pluto alone and just added new planets if they wanted to , but to remove a planet that has been in existence since 1930 is wrong and of the 2500 members only 300 members of the astrological association voted to oust Pluto.

I need more time to process this. Its always been 9 planets, this shake up in the galaxy is ________.

So the people who control the english language and publish dictionarys can one day just vote that certain words are no longer words.

Pluto you will be missed but you can also count on the astrological appeals commitee to get you reinstated as the 9th planet that you are.

Reinstate Pluto petition! where do i sign.

 

[deerborne]

Re: Soalr System Shrinks

Does this shrinking solar system have anything to do with Rite-Aid buying up Eckerds and Brooks?

 

[iflookscouldkill]

Re: Soalr System Shrinks

Seriously, I thought the point of this convention was to add new planets not take away established ones....that's ghetto

 

[Centexfarmer]

Re: Soalr System Shrinks

I have been suspicious for some time that one of the planets was missing in the Universe, and now I know for sure.

 

[JakeBequette]

Re: Soalr System Shrinks

I am surprised they removed it from the planet list. I didn't think they would remove it.

I'm not.

I don't remember all the reasons, but there was a show on the science channel that explaining how Pluto didn't meet a lot of the "requirements" for a planet.​

 

[Queenbitch]

I think its all very fascinating.......I suppose we will all look back one day and say "Remember when Pluto was a planet? Yup those were the good old days".....

 

[mike_n_herrin]

i was somewhat surprised also by this announcement. There was apparently an option to leave it as a planet because it's been one for so long...but that didn't go over either. so i guess this means the 10th planet is out now too? i can't remember if it was bigger than pluto or not...i think it was... bugger it.

 

[Just_Believe18]

Size Matters

Quoted for Truth.

Size queen convention.

 

[mike_n_herrin]

/\ i think ...didn't NPR say it was also about how "round" the thing was? or maybe that was the definition that would leave pluto in? i've forgotten now damn it and will have to go look it up on npr.

 

[Sausy]

I guess now Pluto really is a Mickey Mouse planet.

 

[aussieduo]

If anything, the solar system has become bigger. Yes, Pluto is no longer a planet, but is in a newly created class of celestial entities, dwarf planets. There are now 3 classes of entities in the solar system ie-planets, dwrf planets, and small solar-system bodies.

To be a planet, a celestial entity needs the following, i to orbit around the sun, 2, to has sufficient mass to create its own gravity so that it maintains a roughly spherical shape, 3, to have cleared the neighbourhood around its orbit.

To be a dwarf planet, it need to 1orbit around the sun, 2 have sufficient gravity to create its own gravity so that it maintains a roughly spherical shape, 3 has not cleared the neighbourhood of its orbit, 4 not be a satellite.

Small solar-system bodies are all other entities except satellites that orbit around the sun.

So, as it stands the planets are the remaining 8, except pluto.

The dwarf planets are pluto, ceres (was classed as the largest rock in the solar system, until a larger one was found in the Kuiper belt) and the recently discovered former planet 2003 UB313.

So, yes, we are down 1 planet, but we are up 3 dwarf planets, something we did not have before.

 

[Kulindahr]

The Solar system extends clear to the point where our sun's gravity balances with that of the nearest star, so it's the same size as before.
Even the population is still the same.

They just changed a label, sort of like redefining poverty, which has been done on occasion, making hundreds of thousands, even millions, of people suddenly "poor" overnight.

Lots of those people didn't like their sudden change. Since Pluto can't dislike its change, I guess we have to do that for it -- poor thing.

 

[hotcbr]

Were the Plutonians consulted on this? Looks like they won't get to vote in the next election now...

 

[Danugh]

Good news guys. Some astronomers are trying to get Pluto reinstated as the planet that it is. They are lobbying to have a new definition of a planet. Pluto should not have been booted in the first place.

Ill try and post the link to the article but its good news, its not over till its over.