I know this is sort of a touchy subject but I wanted to start a poll on it.

Here are the terms of this poll (yes, I am dictating terms here [img]/phpBB/images/smiles/icon_biggrin.gif[/img]):

1. At the top of your post please state KBO or Planet, leave a blank line after this.

2. You can post up to two paragraphs of text expressing your view on the subject, say anything that you wish as long as it is within the guidelines set down by the BA in the BABB rules.

These terms are liable to change at the collective wish of posters (or by Mr. Plait's godlike powers) at any time. The reason for these terms is that I do not want this to turn into a debate about the subject, just a poll to determine the common opinion. At the end of one week, next monday (03/03/'03), I will tally the count and post it.

My reason for making a poll is that the last few discussions that I have seen on the Pluto planet/KBO topic have turned into debates with no real settlement at the end.
-Colt


KBO

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<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Colt on 2003-02-24 23:12 ]</font>

I see i inspired someone. [img]/phpBB/images/smiles/icon_smile.gif[/img]

KBO! KBO! KBO!

1. Awkward orbit from the rest of the planets.

2. Terrestrial planet, terrestrial planet, terrestrial planet, terrestrial planet, asteroid belt, gas giant, gas giant, gas giant, gas giant, iddy-biddy-icy-planet amidst the Kuiper Belt? No, makes more sense for it to just be a very large KBO.

3. Sems to be of the same composition of the other KBO's ("dirty iceballs").

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KBO! They're much cuter and cuddlier than planets, and their name is more fun to say!

- Irony, back at the RAO and high on caffeine, this time courtesy of hot Mt. Dew. [img]/phpBB/images/smiles/icon_eek.gif[/img] How the hey did an observatory run out of coffee? [img]/phpBB/images/smiles/icon_confused.gif[/img]

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Planet

I would choose "KB-Planet" if that was an option.

Or how about KB-Buckle?

Meekly puts my hand up...

Er, sorry, but I'm new to the term "KBO"...

(My google search has so far turned up "Knowledge Based Organization" and it's the name of an eastern European rock band... doubt those are it...)


<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: DaveOlden on 2003-02-25 02:46 ]</font>

Got it.

Kuiper Belt Object.

will vote after I learn myself in this...

KBO

But it's still special.

KBO

This is tentative. It's dissimilarity to the outer gas giants, it's orbital eccentricity (which has long suggested the word 'adopted' to me) and it's apparent similarity to KBO's .. all lead me to nod toward the KBO side of the question.

My first two reasons are the strongest. If it was closer to the plane of the ecliptic (if I'm correct in taking the meaning of "plane of the ecliptic" to be the orbital reference plane of the Solar System) and didn't cross over Neptune's orbit I might be more inclined* toward planet.

(*) pun intented.

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: DaveOlden on 2003-02-25 03:13 ]</font>

KBO

Based on it's odd eccentricity and inclination. I never really thought of it as a proper planet anyway, even before I heard of the arguements about it's status.

KBO

Makes it easier for me when my little son asks me, why after the gas giants suddenly another thing smaller than Mercury appears... [img]/phpBB/images/smiles/icon_wink.gif[/img]

On the other hand, http://www.nineplanets.org/ is a handier url than http://www.eightplanetsandakbo.org/ [img]/phpBB/images/smiles/icon_wink.gif[/img]

Harald
(typos fixed)

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: kucharek on 2003-02-25 05:27 ]</font>

It's a definition. And right now, it's defined as a planet.

By any reasonible definition of planet, it would seem to be a planet. See this thread, and discussion about an article in the August 2002 Sky and Telescope.

KBO


Because thats what it is.

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Planet.

Because that's what it is. [img]/phpBB/images/smiles/icon_smile.gif[/img]

A planet.


I understand the opposite view, too: if Pluto is a planet, why aren't Ceres and Vesta too?
Well, in a word: tradition. In order to justify that Pluto is not a planet, you would have to come up with an objective definition of what a planet is. I haven't seen one yet.


<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: informant on 2003-02-25 09:41 ]</font>

We (at least, I and a previous incarnation) have tried to come up with objective criteria--but one certainly has to decide on cutoff points.

Isn't Ceres a tenth the size of Pluto?

Planet.

I agree with Kilopi on the definition issue.

[img]/phpBB/images/smiles/icon_smile.gif[/img]

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The contents of this post are ©2009 by SeanF and may not be copied or retransmitted in any form without the express written consent of SeanF

It isn't definitely one or the other. It is just a question of semantics. You can't make a categorical difference--it's just a question of degree.

Could we say that your post is just an answer of semantics? [img]/phpBB/images/smiles/icon_smile.gif[/img]

Provisional K.B.O. Very provisional. AARRRGGGGG. Pluto “visits” both the system proper and the Kuiper belt.

Check it out; http://web.ics.purdue.edu/~nowack/ge...r/image048.jpg


We’re certainly not the first group to chase this dog around the tree.

http://mips.as.arizona.edu/~stansber/Planet.html

Pluto currently enjoys duel status because it possesses characteristics of both K.B.O.’s and planets. How about “Unincorporated plometesmal”? Pluto+comet+leftover building blocks. Or maybe “Pluton”? Pluto+Triton. After all, they are pretty darn similar.


http://www.lpi.usra.edu/research/outerp/triplu.gif


Well, the pic isn’t the best, but I’m sure you know what I mean. Their similarities outweigh their differences.


Colt.


Just re-read the options at the start of your poll. Straight answer with no window dressing. AARRRGGG.


K.B.O.

KBO

Planet.

Call me a traditionalist.

Besides: http://www.brunching.com/morepluto.html

Now, how can you argue with that?

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I don't think so. I think its status remains as a planet--there was a suggestion that it have duel status, but nothing came of it.

KBO

Some years back there was a humorous scientific article about Pluto. Maybe in J. Irreproducible Results in the 1970s. It was a graph of the decreasing mass of Pluto, starting with the pre-discovery predictions, and going down through the discovery of Charon as a separate object.

The author drew a line and extrapolated to zero mass, predicting that Pluto would disappear around the year 2000!

If anyone remembers this and can post the citation, it would be appreciated.

I remember it well, it was on one of my advisors's doors, I think. But I can't seem to find anything online.

KBO all the way. Still hard with tradition and all, but I mean come on it's among so many other bodies of its kind. If another KBO as large or larger than Pluto is discovered, I think that would answer the debate itself.

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If you didn't like the opinions expressed in this post, get over it!

I would tend to agree--but, in the mean time, there ain't one close.

kilopi.


“I don't think so. I think its status remains as a planet--there was a suggestion that it have duel status, but nothing came of it.”


I stand corrected. And this is going to play hell with designations in the future. Suppose we confirm that it is compositionally identical to K.B.O.’s………are we then trapped into saying all K.B.O.’s are actually planets?

"..I do not want this to turn into a debate about the subject, just a poll to determine the common opinion."

No debate, start another thread if you wish. -Colt

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Planet

Conventional usage, it's spherical and not just a hunk of rubble, it's bigger than any KBOs yet found and it has it's own satellite. It's like the fight between taxonomic lumpers and splitters in biology, there aren't many true dividing lines, one thing just shades into another so you pays yer money and takes yer pick. Maybe I'm just old fashioned, I like analog watches too.

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