What they should do is refer to Pluto as "Yuggoth" as the Mi-Go of the Cthulhu Universe do and call the bodies of it's size as "Plutons"

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I have yet to visit the Hayden planetarium, but I do know that there are only 8 planets. I also know that there was controversy surrounding the construction of them, since the only the 8 were included. I believe it was Mr. Soter who only wanted the 8 instead of the 9 and was therefore, dubbed a pluto hater. I stand by his position though, that there are only 8 planets. Guess he was right.

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Ay, amor
Dime como debo hacer
Para arrancarme este deseo
Que no me deja ni comer
Y que me da cuando te veo

Are you kidding? Pluto/Charon is a double dwarf planet with two other satellites (at least). Getting a good look at how these bodies interact may give us additional (empirical) insight on how planetary systems might work around binary stars.

That's in addition to it being the closest of the KBOs. It's worth taking a good long look at Pluto/Charon.

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In Fallout 3, 'happiness' is a warm junkyard dog and a loaded gun. It's mostly the loaded gun.
- Moose's one-line review.

"your going to regret that one. You are now a colonoscope...
- Chrissy, corrupting PraedSt's wish.

Pluto has 3 moons.

Last night I had a dream that they found two more (what's this fixation with Pluto's moons? I already had a dream just before Nyx and Hydra were confirmed in which they turned up not to be real!)

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Science is a way of trying not to fool yourself. The first principle is that you must not fool yourself, and you are the easiest person to fool.
-- Richard Feynman

Pluto's one of the coolest (no pun intended) objects in the Solar System, definitely worth visiting. Were it a dwarf planet or not.

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Science is a way of trying not to fool yourself. The first principle is that you must not fool yourself, and you are the easiest person to fool.
-- Richard Feynman

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You could, but why?

Yes, the protoplanetary disk from which planets formed was, well, a disk. Rotating clouds of gas tend to collapse into disks. Individual molecules orbit in random orbits. Molecules coming from above the plane collide with molecules coming from below and canceling the horizontal velocity component.

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Science is a way of trying not to fool yourself. The first principle is that you must not fool yourself, and you are the easiest person to fool.
-- Richard Feynman

This was the right decision. It was a mistake calling Pluto a planet to begin with. So, Pluto gets demoted to dwalf planet status. Ceres gets promoted to dwalf planet. I sure do hope that Dawn is not cancelled at the last moment. It will be nice getting back information on both of these bodies. I think that Ceres and Pluto will both be very interesting. Ceres especially could have some surprises for us, as most people expect to find only a mundane rock.

I'll just close my involvement here with this.

What we've been given is not a definition of planet. The pure, undenied motivation here was to demote Pluto. The problem with the definition is that it cannot be used on any system of orbital bodies OTHER than the one around the Sun. It is a purpose built artifact to justify a desired eight planet arrangement in the Solar System, it does not, in any way shape or form, help with the future categorization and cataloguing of substellar orbital bodies EXCEPT in this star system.

Its a manufactured explanation for a result that was decided before the debate even began. My congratulations to the IAU for successfully executing a bowel movement on science in broad daylight and garnering applause for it.

When Dawn is mentioned, why everyone start talking about Ceres!? Vesta is far more interesting.

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Science is a way of trying not to fool yourself. The first principle is that you must not fool yourself, and you are the easiest person to fool.
-- Richard Feynman

As they said at the IAU meeting, there is no point to create a definition for an extrasolar planet--there's no doubt many surprises waiting for us, and any definition would soon have to be changed.

And yes, the primary motive for the definition was clarification of Pluto's status, a problematic issues that has plagued astronomy for decades. It is now corrected. I don't see any problem in that. Yes, the definition should have been better, but let's be glad we have one.

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Science is a way of trying not to fool yourself. The first principle is that you must not fool yourself, and you are the easiest person to fool.
-- Richard Feynman

I agree, let's clear all the planets and other objects out of the solar system and rebuild so that it matches our definitions.

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At night the stars put on a show for free (Carole King)

One Earth, One Sky - IYA 2009

So, wording of the document itself aside, do you think Pluto should be considered a planet?

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"Think of the rivers of blood spilled by all those generals and emperors so that, in glory and triumph, they could become the momentary masters of a fraction of a dot." --Carl Sagan "Pale Blue Dot"

Yes. It meets sufficient physical criteria to qualify as a planet.

So is it true that the pluto-haters are making t-shirts that say "If you don't like the new definition of a planet you can kiss my big fat hairy astronomer"?

I'm waiting for a US congressman to submit a bill to restore Pluto to planethood. This might be one political intrusion into science I could get behind.

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"What you think you thought you saw you did not see." Agent J, MiB - Manhatten Bureau

Nah, lets keep the lawyers and failed lawyers out of it. Too much litigation has to do with amusing the judge, rather than anything to do with true factual discovery.

Whatever the definition is or ends up being, its got to be something that can be applied anywhere, anywhen to any object that meets the criterion.

Slamming on Pluto because its a KBO and not a rocky terrestrial is like slamming iron and carbon fusing stars because they're clearly not like the vast majority of hydrogen/helium stars. Saying Ceres isn't a planet would be like saying a red dwarf isn't a star, even though its structurally identical to a yellow dwarf or white subgiant, because its too small.

Ridiculous. Its like relativity only applies when its convenient.

NOOO!!! pluto should have remained a planet. it is should remain just for the common society and general ethics. ill miss u pluot

Just wait until an Earth-sized object is found in the outer reaches. Wait nevermind, that'd be a dwarf planet.

This definition won't last. It's better than 9 planets, but there are some flaws that will stick out like a sore thumb as we gain insight on other stellar systems (and our own).

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Good point... Does this mean that the IAU has effectively ruled that the rest of the universe doesn't exist?

I guess racism extends to inanimate objects too.

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"What you think you thought you saw you did not see." Agent J, MiB - Manhatten Bureau