It's Official - From the BBC news site

I know Wolverine has mentioned the passing of resolution 5A on another thread, but for the announcement would it be an idea to use this thread?

__________________
Moderations in purple

Fame, glory, adventure, a cyber warrior craves not these things.

To report a post (even this one) to the moderation team, click the reporting icon in the upper-right corner of the post:
─────────────────────────────────────────────
◄ Rules For Posting To This Board ► ◄ Forum FAQs ► ◄ Conspiracy Theory Advice ► ◄ Alternate Theory Advice ►

yep... just read the story on yahoo.com

amazing... poor poor pluto

Note: extra O removed from thread title.

__________________
Moderations in purple

Fame, glory, adventure, a cyber warrior craves not these things.

To report a post (even this one) to the moderation team, click the reporting icon in the upper-right corner of the post:
─────────────────────────────────────────────
◄ Rules For Posting To This Board ► ◄ Forum FAQs ► ◄ Conspiracy Theory Advice ► ◄ Alternate Theory Advice ►

MSNBC: Scientists decide Pluto’s no longer a planet

__________________
And you, to whom adversity has dealt the final blow
With smiling [faces] lyin' to ye' everywhere ye' go
Turn to, and put out all your strength of arm and heart and brain
And like the Mary Ellen Carter, rise again.

Although `roundish`, it is clearly not a planet.

__________________
`Irony` actually does mean `metal like`...

Looks as if science won over popular opinion. T'was Xena that killed Pluto.

That's progress folks, time to accept the decision and move on. I wonder if a ninth planet is out there and when this debate will flare up again.....

__________________
Of all the things I've ever lost, I miss my mind the most!

-

No, it (along with Charon) is a Kuiper belt object, the same as Sedna, the same as 'Xena' etc.

__________________
Of all the things I've ever lost, I miss my mind the most!

Pluto and other would-be planets are now called "dwarf planets". Everything else (not counting satellites) are "small solar system bodies".

Ah, Resolution 6A passed: Pluto and "Pluto's Pals" officially form a new type of trans-Neptunian objects.

__________________
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

Sorry - 'Trans Neptunian Objects' or as we've been calling them for years, 'Kuiper Belt Objects'!

__________________
Of all the things I've ever lost, I miss my mind the most!

No, dwarf planets (Pluto, 2003 UB313, etc.) that orbit beyond Neptune form a new class of objects.

__________________
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'm confused. If the definition is:
“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.”
Then what does the overlapping orbit have to do with it?
Pluto is automatically disqualified because its oblong orbit overlaps with Neptune’s.
Is that because it hasn't cleared Neptune from it's orbit? I think a better explaination is in order.

It was unclear how Pluto’s demotion might affect the mission of NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft, which earlier this year began a 9½-year journey to the oddball object to unearth more of its secrets.

Yep; the science of Pluto isn't valid anymore.

Charon, the largest of Pluto’s three moons, is no longer under consideration for any special designation.

Is Charon still considered a moon if Pluto isn't a planet? Is there a definition of a moon? (that'll probably be the next controversy)

Resolution 6B not passed, i.e. they're not officially called "Plutonian objects".

__________________
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 is not a planet, nor is Charon. The definition of a satellite remains open, as well the definition of planets beyond the Solar System.

__________________
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

Live webcast here for what's left of the business.

Yes, you're quite right - apologies. I think its a bit of a fudge myself. 'Is it a planet'? Well no, it is a 'dwarf' planet.

Is a Dwarf star not a real star then?

I don't think it resolves much. It certainly doesn't detract from the fact that Pluto is a system which we should try and find out as much as possible about.

__________________
Of all the things I've ever lost, I miss my mind the most!

So will NASA cancel New Horizons whilst it is in flight and save the money for other things now that Pluto is no longer a planet?

__________________
Moderations in purple

Fame, glory, adventure, a cyber warrior craves not these things.

To report a post (even this one) to the moderation team, click the reporting icon in the upper-right corner of the post:
─────────────────────────────────────────────
◄ Rules For Posting To This Board ► ◄ Forum FAQs ► ◄ Conspiracy Theory Advice ► ◄ Alternate Theory Advice ►

Well, finally we can safely say that Pluto is not an oddball midged planet that shouldn't be called such, but one of the largest and most interesting Kuiper belt objects (or dwarf planets, if you will).

Right decision!

__________________
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

Less surprisingly, Alan Stern who's the leader of the mission isn't happy.

__________________
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

The phrase I learned at school almost 50 years
ago was Many Vocanoes Erupt Mulberry Jam
Sandwiches Under Normal Pressure. Now perhaps
the IAU will learn the meaning of the word
pressure and issue a correcting resolution in
three years. In the meantime a new phrase might
be in order reflecting the true state. Perhaps
a note left on the washing machine by a chap to
his wife or girlfriend; My Vest Exhales, My
Jumper Stinks, Underpants Need Persil. X

-

One thing that has to be kept in perspective here is that the IAU is not a body that has any coercive power. What this means is that the astronomers of the world have come to a consensus on it. But nobody risks jail for calling Pluto a planet if they want to.

Personally I kind of like the idea of restricting the word "planet" to the ancient planets, up to Jupiter. In other words, the "wanderers" that can be seen with the naked eye (I know, Uranus is iffy in that respect, but the ancients didn't know of it). And everything else is "satellites" or something or another. Uranus and Neptune and all the other bodies would be satellites of the sun, and Titan would be a satellite of Saturn, etc.

But back to the point, this is just a definition of a word. Nothing changes about Pluto or any other body because of a human desire to make categories. It's just like what another poster wrote in another thread about the distinction between the animal and planet kingdoms.

__________________
As above, so below

What science? So planets can only be objects that orbit the Sun? What then are those objects orbiting other stars? Or, while we're in the process of regressing astronomical thought, are were going to backstep to say the Sun is the center of the universe again?

__________________
The last time I felt a warm fuzzy feeling, I was informed by my doctor that it was just gas.

Understandable, but the demotion doesn't diminish the significance of Pluto nor the NH mission.

[/captain obvious]

Exactly. But now it is (or should be) easier for an astronomer to explain to a layman what objects are planets and what are not.

__________________
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 mean, how can you draw a line and say right, this is one type of object, this is another?! There are clear differences between the Inner planets and the gas giants as well as the asteroid belt separating them, but they are all planets..... Mercury has very little in common with Jupiter....

Surely recognising clearly that the term planet is in itself a very loose description is the way forward, not trying to draw a line in the sand and define a planet. What room for manouver is there? How does this fit in with the types of object which are being found around other stars?

__________________
Of all the things I've ever lost, I miss my mind the most!