Despite being the farthest planet from Earth in our solar system, Pluto has come under attack from astronomers and may be about to lose its status in the battle.

 

Some 3,000 astronomers and scientists from around the world will meet in Prague this week to decide whether Pluto, discovered in 1930, measures up to the definition of a planet.

 

In defining for the first time what exactly a planet is, the International Astronomers Union (IAU) may be forced to downgrade Pluto's status, or add as many as 14 others.

 

Such a decision would send shockwaves through the scientific community, instantly outdate textbooks, and cause educators to re-teach the basics of our solar system.

 

"The pivotal question is the status of Pluto, which is clearly very different from Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune," Owen Gingerich, professor of Astronomy and History of Science emeritus a the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics told Reuters.

 

Debate has raged within the scientific community over the status of Pluto for decades after the planet was found to be only one four-hundredths of the mass of the earth.

 

That discussion intensified in 2003 when astronomers at the California Institute of Technology discovered UB 313. Nicknamed Xena after the character in the television show, UB 313 is one of more than a dozen celestial bodies in our solar system found to be larger than Pluto.

 

Xena and Pluto are large icy bodies that reside in the Kuiper Belt -- where thousands of floating bodies travel -- beyond Neptune. Images from the Hubble Space Telescope put Xena's diameter at 1,490 miles or so. That is slightly bigger than Pluto, which measures 1,422 miles across.

 

Gingerich is the chair of a committee that was asked to come up with a definition of a planet and hand it to the IAU general assembly, which runs August 14-25.

 

In the run-up to the assembly, emotions have been running high in both directions.

 

Some have appealed to Gingerich's group not to downgrade Pluto, saying it would disappoint children and throw our understanding of the universe into chaos.

 

Others say let the chips fall where they may and seem to relish the idea of overturning our current view of the universe.

 

Gingerich said that modern technologies have allowed scientists to delve into the solar system further, and in more detail, than ever before. Therefore, it is no surprise that questions on the fundamental assumptions of it are arising.

 

"Should it (Pluto), for historical reasons, be considered a planet like the rest?" Gingerich asks, refusing to tip his hand on how the seven-member group has agreed after deciding on the wording in June.

 

Scientists say the group may make a new class of planets that accepts large bodies such as Xena and Pluto that do not measure up to the eight larger planets. They could also drop Pluto's status as a planet or expand the list of planets to include many similarly-sized bodies found in the solar system.

http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews....xml&src=rss

If Pluto is a planet, then there are countless other objects like Pluto in the solar system that would be planets. It may get to stay a planet due to a grandfather clause, but it shouldn't.

Yeah, that's a huge deal actually. I think they'll downgrade Pluto rather than teach a Solar System with 20 planets. I do think it'd be cool to have a sub-planet category, with a cool sounding name like Quark (unfortunately, that one's taken).

I think they 'did' downgrade Pluto several years ago, because it was merely rotation around it's 'moon', which was actually almost the same size as Pluto itself. I don't recall for sure...but either way, they need to resolve this because the longer it takes the more money we'll be wasting sending expeditions to the '9th' planet.

Pluto is definitely not a planet.

Pluto i not a planet. But once we figure this space travel thing out it would be a good place to put Disney World!

It looks closer to a large asteroid, or the center of a comet, than a planet.

I think Pluto should remain a planet via one of those grandfather clauses--like what they did with the helmets in hockey--but that all future designations should go by whatever rules the International Nerds Union comes up with. Pluto would be super pissed if it were demoted from Planet to Just Another Really Big Rock status.

 

I also vote that Uranus is due for a name change. The children of tomorrow deserve better than a future filled with Uranus jokes.

Pluto is a rock and is nothing like the other outer planets, demote the damn thing, screw the children.

I think Pluto should remain a planet via one of those grandfather clauses--like what they did with the helmets in hockey--but that all future designations should go by whatever rules the International Nerds Union comes up with. Pluto would be super pissed if it were demoted from Planet to Just Another Really Big Rock status.

 

I also vote that Uranus is due for a name change. The children of tomorrow deserve better than a future filled with Uranus jokes.

 

damn...i thought that was the best part of astronomy :whistle

I always wanted to be an astronomer when I was a kid..

The proposal (from BBC Website)

 

According to this definition, two conditions must be satisfied for an object to qualify as a planet:

 

 

The object must be in orbit around a star, but must not itself be a star

It must have enough mass for the body's own gravity to pull it into a nearly spherical shape

 

Seems like a good enough definition to me. Planets have to be more or less spherical to be taken seriously.

 

This would leave us with the 8 'Classical' planets. 3 'Plutons', Pluto, Charon and UB313 and one asteroid, Ceres, just outside the orbit of Mars.

Solar system to welcome three new planets

 

12.00pm Wednesday August 16, 2006

By Steve Connor

 

 

The nine planets of the solar system are about to be transformed into 12.

 

The International Astronomical Union (IAU) is planning to add three new members to the exclusive club of large celestial objects orbiting our Sun.

 

Astronomers are about to vote on an official proposal to extend the definition of a planet to include at least three more objects that are known to be big enough to warrant planetary status.

 

It will mean that astronomy textbooks will have to be rewritten with the names Ceres, Charon and UB313 being added to the more familiar names of the classical planets.

 

At one point it was thought that Pluto - the smallest and most distant of the planets - would be kicked out of the club, but now it appears that it is welcomed as the prototype of a new class of smaller planets known as "plutons".

 

The International Astronomical Union, which has been the arbiter of planetary nomenclature since 1919, has received a new definition of a planet from a special committee of seven experts set up two years ago to adjudicate on the issue.

 

Ron Ekers, the president of the IAU, said the ancient description of a planet as an object that wanders against a backdrop of fixed stars is no longer valid in an age of advanced telescopes.

 

"Modern science provides muchmore knowledge than the simple fact that objects orbiting the Sun appear to move with respect to the background of fixed stars," Dr Ekers said.

 

"Recent new discoveries have been made of objects in the outer regions of our solar system that have sizes comparable to and larger than Pluto.

 

These discoveries have rightfully called into question whether or not they should be considered as new planets." The three new planets are Charon, once considered a moon of Pluto but now described as its double planet; Ceres, formerly known as an asteroid or minor planet; and UB313, an object that has yet to be given a formal name (although it has been nicknamed Xena), and which was only identified last year.

 

There are now eight "classical"planets, three "plutons", those planets that are similar in size to Pluto withextremely wide solar orbits, and theasteroid-like Ceres.

 

Experts sitting on IAU's planet definition committee - composed of astronomers, historians and writers - concluded that in future a planet should be defined as a celestial body that is big enough for its gravity field to form a near-spherical shape.

 

The object must also be in orbit around the Sun - or another star - but not as a satellite of another planet, which rules out the Moon and the larger moons of other planets.

 

"Our goal was to find a scientific basis for a new definition of 'planet', and we chose gravity as the determining factor," said Professor Richard Binzel, a planetary scientist and member of the definition committee.

 

"Nature decides whether or not an object is a planet.".

 

The new definition of a planet means that there are another dozen or two dozen other known objects in the solar system that may one day be included in the planetary club.

 

The seven-member definition committee convened in Paris in late June and early July, and its recommendations will now go to the IAU's general assembly which will vote on the resolution as its meeting in Prague this week.

 

Professor Owen Gingrich, the committee chairman, said the deliberations were long and hard, but in the end a consensus was reached.

 

"In July we had vigorous discussions of both the scientific and the cultural-historical issues and on the second morning several members admitted that they had not slept well, worrying that we would not be able to reach a consensus," Professor Gingrich said.

 

"But by the end of a long day, the miracle had happened - we had reached a unanimous agreement."The issue came to a head after it was discovered that UB313 was bigger than Pluto, which was discovered in 1930 and was only called a planet because it was originally thought to be as big as Earth.

 

- INDEPENDENT

Source

UB313 there's a planet name for the ages. :banghead

 

Supposedly the team that studied it wanted to call it Xena, after Xena: the Warrior Princess. Oh, man. Nevermind, keep it UB313!

Friggin nerds, just name the planets after some Greek/Roman god(dess) and be done with it.

From what I read, they still haven't come to a decision and will make another meeting on August 25th.

Friggin nerds, just name the planets after some Greek/Roman god(dess) and be done with it.

 

 

You mean Xena isn't really a part of Greek mythology!? :o

Friggin nerds, just name the planets after some Greek/Roman god(dess) and be done with it.

 

 

You mean Xena isn't really a part of Greek mythology!? :o

Maybe Athena instead?

 

Zeus wouldn't exactly fit for that tiny thing...

Planet Gandalf, anyone?

 

Or they could name one of them Snakes On A Planet.

I think Pluto should remain a planet via one of those grandfather clauses--like what they did with the helmets in hockey--but that all future designations should go by whatever rules the International Nerds Union comes up with. Pluto would be super pissed if it were demoted from Planet to Just Another Really Big Rock status.

 

I also vote that Uranus is due for a name change. The children of tomorrow deserve better than a future filled with Uranus jokes.

:lol

 

 

I think Pluto should stay a planet. We were all taught it was. Besides, its even got a super cool radioactive element with its name. :mischief

I think Pluto should remain a planet via one of those grandfather clauses--like what they did with the helmets in hockey--but that all future designations should go by whatever rules the International Nerds Union comes up with. Pluto would be super pissed if it were demoted from Planet to Just Another Really Big Rock status.

 

I also vote that Uranus is due for a name change. The children of tomorrow deserve better than a future filled with Uranus jokes.

:lol

 

 

I think Pluto should stay a planet. We were all taught it was. Besides, its even got a super cool radioactive element with its name. :mischief

 

And a Disney character, duh...

I think Pluto should remain a planet via one of those grandfather clauses--like what they did with the helmets in hockey--but that all future designations should go by whatever rules the International Nerds Union comes up with. Pluto would be super pissed if it were demoted from Planet to Just Another Really Big Rock status.

 

I also vote that Uranus is due for a name change. The children of tomorrow deserve better than a future filled with Uranus jokes.

:lol

 

 

I think Pluto should stay a planet. We were all taught it was. Besides, its even got a super cool radioactive element with its name. :mischief

 

And a Disney character, duh... I forgot! *Gasp*

Friggin nerds, just name the planets after some Greek/Roman god(dess) and be done with it.

You mean Xena isn't really a part of Greek mythology!? :o Maybe Athena instead?

 

Zeus wouldn't exactly fit for that tiny thing...Zeus' name is already taken, in its Roman form (as all planets are). It belongs to the biggest planet.

 

Minerva, Apollo, Diana, Juno, Ceres, Proserpine, Vulcan, and Bacchus are still available. Juno probably wouldn't fit since the queen of the gods doesn't deserve a small planet, Apollo is the god of the sun, Diana is the goddess of the moon, and Ceres is the goddess of the earth. So that leaves four possibilities.

I say it's time we make a clean break from the Romans and try something new. It's crucial we get this right. How often do you get to name a planet? I'm now liking Planet Mirth for one of them. And if that doesn't get taken, I might use if for my next band.

Yeah, there's lots of Arthurian legends we haven't used. Why not call it Launcelot or Gawain, or something else. Screw the Greeks n' Romans.