When I was a kid, the solar system only had nine planets!

[mr_pikachu]

Nine Planets Become 12 with Controversial New Definition (http://news.yahoo.com/s/space/20060816/sc_space/nineplanetsbecome12withcontroversialnewdefinition)

"A planet is a celestial body that (a) has sufficient mass for its self-gravity to overcome rigid body forces so that it assumes a hydrostatic equilibrium (nearly round) shape, and (b) is in orbit around a star, and is neither a star nor a satellite of a planet."

According to this new definition, our solar system now has a dozen planets. But wait! If this decision stands, then... there are 53 celestial bodies in the solar system that should be called planets, with more to be discovered? And Pluto might be a sub-planet... a Pluton?!

Not to mention that our tenth planet is none other than Xena, Warrior Princess...

Discuss!

[Blademaster]

...?

OK, Xena is a planet, but Charon and Ceres? Come on...

New rules: anything less than 1000 miles in diameter can't be a planet, anything that spins around another planet can't be a planet, anything that lacks a rotation AND a revolution can't be a planet, and anything that is clumped up with a bunch of littler pieces of itself in a belt can't be a planet.

So, now we're back to Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto, as well as Xena and Sedna (maybe - don't know exactly how big they are).

There, all sorted out. Problem solved - no fuss, no muss. :D

[mr_pikachu]

...?

OK, Xena is a planet, but Charon and Ceres? Come on...

New rules: anything less than 1000 miles in diameter can't be a planet, anything that spins around another planet can't be a planet, anything that lacks a rotation AND a revolution can't be a planet, and anything that is clumped up with a bunch of littler pieces of itself in a belt can't be a planet.

So, now we're back to Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto, as well as Xena and Sedna (maybe - don't know exactly how big they are).

There, all sorted out. Problem solved - no fuss, no muss. :D

Actually, I think this would eliminate Pluto... that's part of the problem.

[Blademaster]

If memory serves, Pluto is about 1600 1400 miles in diameter - at the very least, I know it isn't less than 1000.

EDIT: I stand corrected... thanks, Wikipedia. ;)

[Zak]

Whatever happened to Sedna?

[Blademaster]

Scientists don't have enough information on Sedna to give an accurate size - it could be anywhere between 700-1100 miles in diameter, so, more than likely, it wouldn't be a planet according to my 'system.'

[mr_pikachu]

Thanks for the correction, Blademaster. My mistake. ^_^

Sedna would likely fall into the list of those 53 planets - although, admittedly, I have not seen the full list, so it's only speculation.

Do you realize what one of the biggest points of this definition is? Roundness. That's... kinda sad, really.


Asteroid Ceres, since it is round, would be considered a planet. Interestingly, Ceres was called a planet when first discovered in 1801, then reclassified. It is just 578 miles in diameter, compared to 1,430 for Pluto and 7,926 for Earth.

And if astronomers determine that asteroids Pallas, Vesta, and Hygeia are also round, "they will also have to be considered planets," said Owen Gingerich, an historian and astronomer emeritus at Harvard who led the committee. The IAU proposal suggests (but does not require) that these be called dwarf planets. Pluto could also be considered a dwarf, which the IAU recommends as an informal label.

So to recap: Pluto would be a planet and a pluton and also a dwarf.

Yeah.

[Dark Dragonite]

yay for planets running around the solar system with skimpy leather outfits yelling "ai yi yi yi yi"...planets have never been hotter...thanks Lucy Lawless(that is so a porno name...)

[Chris 2.1]

More like Lucy Bra-less.

Umm yea so new planets. Why do we have to meddle with the classics? Saturn! Pluto! Uranus! *laugh*. Umm yea.

[Dark Dragonite]

it's not the same from when I used to go to planetariums...forced by school...but still...well, time to explore a planet!!

*randomizes* ...I'm off to Uranus!! Which I just found out is a planet!!

[Katie]

A planet is a celestial body that (a) has sufficient mass for its self-gravity to overcome rigid body forces so that it assumes a hydrostatic equilibrium (nearly round) shape, and (b) is in orbit around a star, and is neither a star nor a satellite of a planet.

ok, so in dumb people terms, a planet in our solar system is

a) round
b) orbits sun
c) not the sun
d) not a moon

ummm... DUH? what's the big deal. sounds to me like we're just correcting the mistakes of lazy scientists over the centuries who didn't want to add anything on to the ancient [every civilization that has ever taken note of the planets]'s list-o-planets.

great news! though I doubt anyone in the general public will ever recognize any of these newbies for what they are. and I'm not holding my breath to see textbooks change soon. at most I expect maybe a footnote added to say something along the lines of "in 2006 x, y, and z were added to the list, but research is ongoing so ignore those for now ok? 9 planets 4eva" and leave it at that for the next 50 years.

PS: what's sailor moon going to do now? :confused:

[Jeff]

Yeah, read this in the paper yesterday. Personally I think it's cool that Charon will become a planet, since technically it doesn't orbit Pluto, but rather Pluto and it orbit each other, yeah try wrapping your head around that. They basically just go in circles around a point in between them while orbiting the sun, so they aren't a planet and satellite, but a twin planet system. Oh and did anyone know that the Pluto-Charon system has two moons of it's own (Nix and Hydra)? (Just thought I'd throw that in there). Hopefully UB313 (aka "Xena") will get a real name now. Also, I was thinking that maybe with 53+ planets there will become a second definition for "major planets" that will include the "big eight".

[Razola]

Universe Client Patch 3.04 (8/18/2006)

Planets

* The rules for what makes a planet have been changed. New size and gravity requirements will be in place. Overall, the number of planets will increase. It is our hope to give grade-school science teachers even more of a headache.


Humans

* Fixed a bug causing irrational behavior.
* White Human income reduced to an average of 50,000 a year, down from 75,000.
* Decreased duration of PMS.
* Increased human build time.

Aliens

* Added models. Aliens to be added in the expansion.

[Magmar]

yay for planets running around the solar system with skimpy leather outfits yelling "ai yi yi yi yi"


Oh, you mean them?

http://www.prose-n-poetry.com/images/anime/sailor_starlights/Sailor_Starlights-10517.jpg

But yes, what will happen to Sailor Pluto?? :( :( SAVE SAILOR PLUTO!!!!

[Blademaster]

LOL

LONG LIVE SAILOR XENA! :lol:

[Everoy]

Charon and Pluto orbit around each other, according to what I read. It says that they orbit around a gravity field between them.

[Jeff]

Yeah, that's what I said earlier in the thread. So they are a twin planet system, two planets orbiting a point between them called a barycenter, while the barycenter orbits the sun. And Ceres is going to be a planet too, that would be cool to see a planet filling the gap between Mars and Jupiter.

[Starry Might]

I tried to respond to this yesterday, but the board suddenly became R-E-A-L-L-Y slow!

Anyways, while I don't know about asteroids and moons being considered planets, I nonetheless find all this very interesting and exciting!

Oh, and I think that 2003 EL61 (which I saw in a pic of other potential "planet" candiates that I can't find now...) should be called "Ovid" because it looks like an egg. :lol:

[Chris]

ok, so in dumb people terms, a planet in our solar system is

a) round


Not quite. It also has to have a shitton of mass in order to stay round, so it has to be fairly sizeable too.

This will never get past the IAU vote.

[Chris 2.1]

I'm going back to the Hannah Barbera era when Yogi Bear and chums raced in rockets around the solar system, with gas stations on Mars and funky diners on Saturn. Oh and Yogi always won. Bastard.

[Girafarig]

I think Stephen Colbert summed up this planet argument with one phrase:

"Ceres, you're not a planet. You're just a fat ass-teroid!"

[RedStarWarrior]

...and now it has only 8. I am glad they decided on a stronger definition for 'planet' because the only one wasn't cutting it.

[Jeff]

Like I thought, we now have two classifications. "Planets" and "Dwarf planets" with the distinction being that Planets managed to kick out anything else in their orbit (correct me if I'm wrong). And it turns out Pluto just couldn't do it, so it's a dwarf planet. This still makes me wonder about Charon though.

Edit: so Charon is still a moon, but at least Ceres and UB313 have both been promoted from Asteroid and "we don't know" to dwarf planets.

Edit2: Correction, Charon is now a "we don't know" it could be a moon or a dwarf planet. They haven't defined what an orbiting system vs. a binary system is.

[Asilynne]

Universe Client Patch 3.04 (8/18/2006)

Planets

* The rules for what makes a planet have been changed. New size and gravity requirements will be in place. Overall, the number of planets will increase. It is our hope to give grade-school science teachers even more of a headache.


Humans

* Fixed a bug causing irrational behavior.
* White Human income reduced to an average of 50,000 a year, down from 75,000.
* Decreased duration of PMS.
* Increased human build time.

Aliens

* Added models. Aliens to be added in the expansion.

lol

Whats interesting is, I need to look it up but I remember seeing a piece of gold money from a few centuries ago where it showed the sun and all the planets around it. Interesting enough that coin had 10 planets on it, I think because at that time they thought there was a planet closer to the sun than Mercury. They even gave it a name and it was widely reguarded as fact back then (It was called Vulcan XDDD)
But yeah I think this is cool, although I read once (it might have been an old textbook and no longer relelvent but who cares lol) that Jupiter was considered to be 'the star that failed' because if it had a little more mass or something to ignite its gases it could become a star (as it is it does give out some heat and radiation, enough to make its moon Io volcanicly active)
And hey you learn something new every day because for some reason I never knew that Charon and Pluto orbited each other, thats pretty cool :D

[Magmar]

I learned Pluto has three moons today. :P