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Topic Review (Newest First)
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| Aug 27th, 2006 06:55 PM | ||
| kahljorn |
juttin always gets his butt in 
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| Aug 27th, 2006 02:49 AM | ||
| Juttin | Yep, I think of myself as a regular intra-net content filter. | |
| Aug 27th, 2006 01:01 AM | ||
| Big Papa Goat | nothing slips past you juttin | |
| Aug 27th, 2006 12:21 AM | ||
| Juttin |
Quote:
 Hey, that sounds familiar. |
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| Aug 26th, 2006 01:07 PM | ||
| kahljorn |
Yea pluto always had a weird orbit ;O The only thing I don't understand about pluto is it's moon, charon. What kind of relationship do they have? Isn't charon the biggest moon in the solar system, almost as big as pluto? Shouldn't it have a differernt classification? Also doesn't pluto have two other moons as well? It's so strange that such a small planet would have three moons, but i guess it's to be expected by a "Planet" residing on the edge of the Solar System. |
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| Aug 26th, 2006 03:50 AM | ||
| Sethomas | It seems probable that they would at some point, but five years ago it ended the cycle (of a few hundred years, I dunno) when Pluto is in front of Neptune. So, if it does ever happen it won't be in our lifetimes and maybe the sun will turn into a Red Giant before then anyways and scatter the orbits of the outer planets. | |
| Aug 25th, 2006 01:58 PM | ||
| Dr. Boogie | So are Neptune and Pluto going to collide at some point? | |
| Aug 25th, 2006 01:41 PM | ||
| Sethomas |
Neptune is the last planet. Neptune has always been the last planet. WAR IS PEACE. FREEDOM IS SLAVERY. IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH. Red pill! [/ranxer] |
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| Aug 25th, 2006 12:40 PM | ||
| kahljorn | My feelings on this can be summed up by the following, "The previous definition was ridiculous". | |
| Aug 25th, 2006 12:03 PM | ||
| Miss Modular |
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO My whole childhood has been negated!! 
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| Aug 25th, 2006 09:39 AM | ||
| KevinTheOmnivore |
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/nation...3_pluto25.html Pluto died much as it lived -- famous, but an oddball Frozen mass stripped of title as ninth planet Friday, August 25, 2006 By KAY POWELL COX NEWS SERVICE ATLANTA -- Pluto, the least of the major celestial bodies, never asked to be a planet. Once elevated, it became an influential figure in astronomy and astrology, in classical music and in cartoons. In 1930, a private astronomer discovered the frozen mass and designated it Planet X. It soon orbited into the stratosphere's most exclusive club as the ninth planet. An English schoolgirl, Venetia Burney, 11, named the newest planet Pluto after the mythological lord of the underworld. Pluto the planet, 76, died Thursday in Prague, Czech Republic, when it was killed by the International Astronomical Union -- separated from the eight "classical planets" and lumped in with two similarly sized "dwarf planets." No memorial service is planned, because it has been several years since astronomers considered Pluto a real planet. "The previous definition was ridiculous," said Mike Crenshaw, a Georgia State University astronomy professor. Crenshaw is now revising his PowerPoint presentations and quiz questions. (The answer to his question to name the smallest of the planets is now Mercury.) Teachers around the world also are scrambling to alter lesson plans. Although 2,500 astronomers from 75 nations attended the conference, only about 300 showed up to vote. The IAU's definition now specifies that a planet not only must orbit the sun and be large enough to assume a nearly round shape, but must "clear the neighborhood around its orbit." It is not Pluto's size -- 1,430 miles in diameter -- that disqualifies it. Pluto is out because its orbit -- 248 years to complete one journey around the sun -- carried it inside the orbit of Neptune from 1979 to 1999. In other words, Pluto did not clear the neighborhood around its orbit. Under the new rules, two of the three objects that came tantalizingly close to planethood joined Pluto as dwarfs: the asteroid Ceres, which was a planet in the 1800s before it got demoted, and 2003 UB313, an icy object slightly larger than Pluto and nicknamed "Xena." The third object, Pluto's largest moon, Charon, isn't in line for any special designation. Pluto was predeceased by the man who first turned a telescope on it. Clyde Tombaugh died in 1997 at 90. A canister of his ashes is aboard NASA's New Horizons spacecraft, which is expected to orbit Pluto on July 14, 2015, according to the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory. "It's disappointing in a way, and confusing," said Patricia Tombaugh, his 93-year-old widow. "But I understand science is not something that just sits there," she said from Las Cruces, N.M.. "It goes on. Clyde finally said before he died, 'It's there. Whatever it is. It is there.' " Pluto influenced the arts high and low. Within a year of its discovery in 1930, Walt Disney gave the same name to Mickey Mouse's faithful companion -- Pluto the dog. Whatever happens to the former planet, the Walt Disney Studio said Thursday, Pluto remains Disney's dog star. British composer Gustav Holst created the popular symphonic suite "The Planets" in 1916 and steadfastly refused to revise the suite after Pluto's discovery. Thursday, his decision was bestowed added credence by the IAU. "The Planets" is one of the most popular pieces in symphony orchestra repertoire and has been fodder for legions of film scores. In the world of astrology, Pluto's designation as a dwarf planet changes little regarding its influence on charting, said licensed astrologer David Railey, a former president of the Metro Atlanta Astrological Society. "Pluto in astrology," he said, "is associated with transformation or rebirth, a rite of passage in a person's life, a metamorphosis." Not unlike what Pluto itself is undergoing. Survivors include eight planets, Earth, Jupiter, Mars, Mercury, Neptune, Saturn, Uranus and Venus. |
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| Aug 24th, 2006 10:32 PM | ||
| conus |
Quote:
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| Aug 24th, 2006 10:43 AM | ||
| AChimp | Cue letter-writing campaign from stupid elementary schoolkids. | |
| Aug 24th, 2006 10:03 AM | ||
| KevinTheOmnivore |
Pluto no longer a planet This totally ruins the mnemonic device. Pluto Is No Longer a Planet, Astronomers Say By William J. Kole Associated Press Thursday, August 24, 2006; 9:46 AM PRAGUE, Czech Republic (AP) -- Leading astronomers declared Thursday that Pluto is no longer a planet under historic new guidelines that downsize the solar system from nine planets to eight. After a tumultuous week of clashing over the essence of the cosmos, the International Astronomical Union stripped Pluto of the planetary status it has held since its discovery in 1930. The new definition of what is -- and isn't -- a planet fills a centuries-old black hole for scientists who have labored since Copernicus without one. Although astronomers applauded after the vote, Jocelyn Bell Burnell -- a specialist in neutron stars from Northern Ireland who oversaw the proceedings -- urged those who might be "quite disappointed" to look on the bright side. "It could be argued that we are creating an umbrella called 'planet' under which the dwarf planets exist," she said, drawing laughter by waving a stuffed Pluto of Walt Disney fame beneath a real umbrella. The decision by the prestigious international group spells out the basic tests that celestial objects will have to meet before they can be considered for admission to the elite cosmic club. For now, membership will be restricted to the eight "classical" planets in the solar system: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. Much-maligned Pluto doesn't make the grade under the new rules for a planet: "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." Pluto is automatically disqualified because its oblong orbit overlaps with Neptune's. Instead, it will be reclassified in a new category of "dwarf planets," similar to what long have been termed "minor planets." The definition also lays out a third class of lesser objects that orbit the sun -- "small solar system bodies," a term that will apply to numerous asteroids, comets and other natural satellites. It was unclear how Pluto's demotion might affect the mission of NASA's New Horizons spacecraft, which earlier this year began a 961/27-year journey to the oddball object to unearth more of its secrets. The decision at a conference of 2,500 astronomers from 75 countries was a dramatic shift from just a week ago, when the group's leaders floated a proposal that would have reaffirmed Pluto's planetary status and made planets of its largest moon and two other objects. That plan proved highly unpopular, splitting astronomers into factions and triggering days of sometimes combative debate that led to Pluto's undoing. Now, two of the objects that at one point were cruising toward possible full-fledged planethood will join Pluto as dwarfs: the asteroid Ceres, which was a planet in the 1800s before it got demoted, and 2003 UB313, an icy object slightly larger than Pluto whose discoverer, Michael Brown of the California Institute of Technology, has nicknamed Xena. Charon, the largest of Pluto's three moons, is no longer under consideration for any special designation. © 2006 The Washington Post Company |
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