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The Day the Universe Changed

Willets Point Aug 16 2006 06:37 AM

Or at least the solar system. Twelve planets?

MFS62 Aug 16 2006 06:41 AM

Sounds like its time to invest heavily in text book publishing companies. Later

Johnny Dickshot Aug 16 2006 06:57 AM

I've long been an advocate for Pluto's Planethood. I for one welcome our new Plutonian overlords.

seawolf17 Aug 16 2006 09:51 AM

Finally! I'm a planet!

Willets Point Aug 16 2006 09:58 AM

I thought the same thing.

cooby Aug 16 2006 09:59 AM

MFS62 wrote: Sounds like its time to invest heavily in text book publishing companies. Later and the paper mache industry

Willets Point Aug 16 2006 09:59 AM

And little styrofoam balls and pipe cleaners.

cooby Aug 16 2006 10:00 AM

Tempura paint....mmmmm....

MFS62 Aug 16 2006 10:34 AM

Let me guess. The planet Xena has two large moons? Later

Willets Point Aug 16 2006 12:10 PM

It should be noted that, yes, the name of the planet comes from TV's warrior princess, but that it's only a nickname and the official name has not yet been determined. I submit the following name for consideration: Kranepool.

Benjamin Grimm Aug 16 2006 12:15 PM

Mookie.

seawolf17 Aug 16 2006 12:32 PM

Kranepookie.

soupcan Aug 16 2006 01:49 PM

Soupcania.

Elster88 Aug 16 2006 01:57 PM

Aniston

ScarletKnight41 Aug 16 2006 02:07 PM

Rutgers!

Willets Point Aug 16 2006 02:19 PM

ScarletKnight41 wrote: Rutgers! That would be Freakin' Rutgers in astronomical circles.

ScarletKnight41 Aug 16 2006 02:20 PM

Willets Point wrote: ="ScarletKnight41"]Rutgers! That would be Freakin' Rutgers in astronomical circles. Because of its utmost coolness ;)

Nymr83 Aug 16 2006 03:28 PM

Murphy's Planet!

seawolf17 Aug 17 2006 07:32 AM

="Nymr83"]Murphy's Planet! Great idea!

MFS62 Aug 17 2006 07:39 AM

Talk about your basic sibling rivalry. His brother has a staduim named after him. But a PLANET? If any announcer should get one of those distant planets named after him, it should be Bob Uecker. They're "just a bit outsiiiide". Later

MFS62 Aug 18 2006 10:59 AM

MFS62 wrote: Sounds like its time to invest heavily in text book publishing companies. Later I shoulda' been a financial analyst: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060816/ap_on_sc/obsolete_planets_1 Later

Willets Point Aug 18 2006 12:16 PM

I just thought of the perfect "name" for the Planet to be Renamed Later:

Willets Point Aug 18 2006 02:48 PM

Scientists are going on a bender of making things planets.

Benjamin Grimm Aug 18 2006 02:58 PM

I think these new planets will do the jobs that the established planets don't want to do.

Edgy DC Aug 18 2006 04:37 PM

The Mets have twelve guys in the lineup tonight.

Edgy DC Aug 24 2006 09:32 AM

CNN says they decided to go the other way. Pluto gets the boot Pluto no longer a planet, say astronomers Thursday, August 24, 2006; Posted: 10:27 a.m. EDT (14:27 GMT) 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 91/2-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. (Watch why some think planet size doesn't matter -- 3:39) 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. Brown was pleased by the decision. He had argued that Pluto and similar bodies didn't deserve planet status, saying that would "take the magic out of the solar system." "UB313 is the largest dwarf planet. That's kind of cool," he said.

Willets Point Aug 24 2006 09:34 AM

Bastards!

MFS62 Aug 24 2006 09:36 AM

They'll have to answer to the Disney Corporation for that. Later

Benjamin Grimm Aug 24 2006 09:58 AM

To mollify Disney, they're going to change the name of Uranus to "Winnie the Pooh."

seawolf17 Aug 24 2006 10:01 AM

Does that mean I'm not a planet anymore? Shit.

MFS62 Aug 24 2006 10:01 AM

Yancy Street Gang wrote: To mollify Disney, they're going to change the name of Uranus to "Winnie the Pooh." ding! ding! ding! This thread is much more fun than the Shawn Green one. And, b'sides, it gives me excuse to look at that picture of Xena again. (I am NOT a dirty old man. I prefer "sexy senior citizen".) Later

Johnny Dickshot Aug 24 2006 10:02 AM

Yancy Street Gang wrote: To mollify Disney, they're going to change the name of Uranus to "Winnie the Pooh." They've also sued the Astronomers Guild for unauthorized use of the name "Dwarves."

Willets Point Aug 24 2006 10:03 AM

I'd like to see Lucy Lawless go medieval on the International Astronomical Union's collective asses.

metsmarathon Aug 24 2006 11:38 AM

i'm personally dissatisfied with the ruling. the definition of planet vs. dwarf planet is pretty wishywashy, imo. i'd prefer somehting like "significantly larger than the rest of the stuff in the same orbit" to make it a planet, and "surrounded by other, similarly-sized stuff" for a dwarf planet, which i would just call "planetoid" instead, thereby indicating that it is clearly NOT A planet, but just kinda like a planet. for a bunch of scientists, they sure have come up with something vague, imprecise, and confusing. you'd think it was a town hall or board of ed meeting instead.

Frayed Knot Aug 24 2006 01:16 PM

"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] plan proved highly unpopular, splitting astronomers into factions and triggering days of sometimes combative debate that led to Pluto's undoing. " I'd be really pissed if there weren't at least a couple of fist fights over this during debate.