[Golden Legacy]

A proposed draft to be voted on next week in Prague could lead to a definitive definition of the term "planet"; furthermore, if it is passed, our Solar System will include three new planets: Ceres, (the largest asteroid in the Asteroid Belt between Mars/Jupiter), Charon (Pluto's largest moon), and a farther object officially called 2003 UB313, (but currently has the nickname "Xena").

Read more here.

[Platinum Sun]

OMGNFW!! The cannot be considering making Charon a planet! Pluto is on shaky ground as a planet as it is! And it's four times Charon's size! And why aren't any of the other large moons (that just so happen to be even larger than Pluto) in the solar system getting promoted? Gerrr...

[Golden Legacy]

Charon is nearly the size of Pluto. Earth is several times larger than the moon.

In order to be considered a planet, the center of gravity between the two must be in space. Because Charon and Pluto are close in mass, the center of gravity is roughly between them. However, in the case of the Earth and the moon, the center is actually inside Earth.

Likewise for Jupiter, Saturn, etc. they are so large, that the center of gravity is inside the planets themselves. And thus, their moons aren't considered revolving around the sun, hence not a planet.

Simple eh?

[Joshua Johnson]

Hmm... I get it. But then all of first grade would've been a waste... lol

[Platinum Sun]

Still, there are at least a dozen objects larget than Charon... Guess they're not round enough.

[Golden Legacy]

Those dozen or so objects will be considered later on, and could very well be considered planets. But for now, those three will be included, if it is passed.

[Somia]

I thought they were replacing Pluto with something.. *shrugs*
The think Pluto is too small to be a planet.
We'll see after the voting is done.

[Platinum Sun]

Oh, well. Whatever the cost in terms of extra planetettes. We'll finally have a no-nonsense, concrete definition for a planet.

[FlamingDuck]

Hmmm, but how will the catchy acronym go?

My
Very
Excellent
Mother
Ceruptiously
Just
Sent
Us
Nine
Pizzas
Charitably
Xenosagic?

Ewwww....no.

[Joshua Johnson]

Yeah, there's a plus side, eh?

[Someone Else]

It'd certainly be interesting to have extra planets. Now, so many Sci-Fi movies will be out of date! Dammit.

[Joshua Johnson]

Yeah, they'll be retro, doods! This calls for another topic: Retro Movies...

[Golden Legacy]

I wonder what will happen to all the astrologists out there, and whatnot.

[Eugine]

I'm for it.

I found this quote funny by a scientist... "Now children can't get the "How much planets are there in our solar system?" question wrong anymore...

[Mars Djinni]

FlamingDuck, on Aug 16 2006, 06:11 PM, said:

Hmmm, but how will the catchy acronym go?

My
Very
Excellent
Mother
Ceruptiously
Just
Sent
Us
Nine
Pizzas
Charitably
Xenosagic?

Ewwww....no.

"My Very Eccentric Mother Cancels Jamming Sessions Unless Nick Plays Cedar Xylophones"

I can live with the change, it'd be nice to know we have a bigger solar system (somewhat). Gives us more room to explore, no?

[Toasty]

I'm for it, but then again, I'm for calling the universe mine. ^_^

And MD, it does to an extent ( i.e. exploring with telescopes ) but it will be much better when we have spaceships. =P

[Aquamarine]

I hope people NEVER manage to inhabit another planet! They've done enough damage to this poor playet as it is. People do not deserve it.

Back on topic, I am quite interested in astronomy and the like, but I don't really care what the number of planets in the Solar System is.

[Mindpatch]

Xena's alternate name is UB2003... try finding something for that.

[Mars Djinni]

Mr.T, on Aug 17 2006, 01:28 AM, said:

I'm for it, but then again, I'm for calling the universe mine. ^_^

And MD, it does to an extent ( i.e. exploring with telescopes ) but it will be much better when we have spaceships. =P

So we're gonna have to rename the planets Toasty 1, Toasty 2, Toasty 3, David Hasselhoff etc.?

Spaceships and NASA probes (in-depth, down to the surface research) were what I thought of as "exploring".

[Golden Legacy]

Nasa sent out the New Horizons spacecraft, which if I recall correctly, should reach Pluto sometime in the next ten years.

[Mars Djinni]

I've heard. I can't wait to see close up analysis once it passes these new planets-to-be.

[Toasty]

Aquamarine, on Aug 17 2006, 08:40 AM, said:

I hope people NEVER manage to inhabit another planet! They've done enough damage to this poor playet as it is. People do not deserve it.

Back on topic, I am quite interested in astronomy and the like, but I don't really care what the number of planets in the Solar System is.

...You're an evironmentalist Liberal? AREN'T YOU?!?! *points finger* j/k :)

Mars Djinni, on Aug 17 2006, 11:26 AM, said:

So we're gonna have to rename the planets Toasty 1, Toasty 2, Toasty 3, David Hasselhoff etc.?

Spaceships and NASA probes (in-depth, down to the surface research) were what I thought of as "exploring".

Yes MD, you are going to have to rename them that. Or mabey, Buttered Toast, Gravy, and.....MR. T!!!!!!!!!

On topic, yes, that is a way of exploring, I forgot about that.

[Golden Legacy]

Farewell, Pluto.

The Solar System has no shrunk to eight planets, for now.

Link

[TheEnglishman]

I just read that. Poor Pluto. There will need to be new limericks now!

[Split Infinity]

Tsk. All this controversy over the definition of a word. I hate these sort of debates.

[TheEnglishman]

It's a bit more than that. Think about all the changes that have to be made. Textbooks and things will have to be changed and people will be educated differently.

[Split Infinity]

So what? As if it's going to make a huge difference. Think about it! It's silly.

[FlamingDuck]

Pluto got the boot, eh? Well, scientists were just waiting for the chance to do this, I could tell.

[Platinum Sun]

Split Infinity, on Aug 24 2006, 12:19 PM, said:

Tsk. All this controversy over the definition of a word. I hate these sort of debates.

This restructuring of the definition of a planet is intended to end this sort of debate by standardizing the term. With any lick luck (Aqua is a jerk.), you'll never have to sit through such an argument again Split.

[Aquamarine]

Yeah, with some lick you'll never have to sit through something like this ever again Split! <_<

Many scientists have actually been saying since forever that Pluto isn't large enough to be a planet. I guess they were right huh?

[TheEnglishman]

I heard in the news that they've been debating ever since it was first discovered in 1930. It's just odd that it's taken them 76 years to act. <_<

[Platinum Sun]

It's takent them 76 years to finally take the axe to Pluto. The debate has been going on the whole time. Darn anti-plutonians...

[Aquamarine]

Yeah, what have they got against poor ol' Pluto!?

[Sea of Time]

I just heard yesterday that there will no only be 8 planets and 4 dwarf planets.

Seems like kind of a sudden decision, what are we to say what planets are defined as. For example, elephants are significantly different from squirrels, yet we still call them both animals. Why can't Pluto be specified as a planet?

[Aquamarine]

It's not all about the size of the planet, but also something about their gravity and stuff...

[Golden Legacy]

Also has to do with the orbits. Pluto's is highly irregular.

Also, on another note, Ceres and Xena are planets, but Charon is not.

[Aquamarine]

When did they decide that Xena and Ceres are planets? I thought all they did was kick Pluto out of the Solar System.

[TheEnglishman]

Sea_of_Time, on Aug 25 2006, 06:16 PM, said:

I just heard yesterday that there will no only be 8 planets and 4 dwarf planets.

'Just heard yesterday'? What an odd phrase.
Getting back to it, I hadn't heard about Xena or Ceres. I thought they were leaving them alone.

[Sea of Time]

This is the first time since yesterday that I've been on the forums. It's a strange way to put it, but it made sense to me when I said it.

[Golden Legacy]

My mistake, everyone; Xena and Ceres are "dwarf planets", along with Pluto.

[TheEnglishman]

Golden Legacy, on Aug 26 2006, 02:28 AM, said:

My mistake, everyone; Xena and Ceres are "dwarf planets", along with Pluto.

I thought that was what you meant. It would have been big news if they were added.

[Hinny]

Golden Legacy, on Aug 26 2006, 02:28 AM, said:

My mistake, everyone; Xena and Ceres are "dwarf planets", along with Pluto.

Along with Charon, don't forget good ol' Charon.
Yeah, I am on two sides. I think Pluto would never have been officially a "planet", as it has huge size differences than the rest of the Solar System, and I have always thought it was a lil "oddball". But you have to take the amount of hassle and impact this would have on the world. All the changings of education and books. Millions of books would be completely out of date and rubbish now <_< *sigh*...

[Toasty]

Well, 2+ out of the seven moons of Jupiter are bigger than pluto, and 2 out of them are bigger than mercury. Just thought I'd point that out...

[Golden Legacy]

But they obviously orbit Jupiter, not the sun.

[Toasty]

Yes, but I just wanted to point that out. :blink: And by the way, did you know Venus has little or no magnetic feild? And that the Sun's magnetic feild stretches far beyond Pluto?

[Platinum Sun]

Venus also rotates backwards and has a day longer than its year. That concludes our random fact session for today.

[Toasty]

Well, just one more thing. It has such a low/no magnetic feild because it rotates so slowly. Also, it will pass between the earth, and the sun in 2012. After that, it will be another hundered years before that happens again.