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Post by Brandon on Aug 25, 2006 8:25:28 GMT -5
Aw c'mon!! It's frickin' PLUTO! Was it so bad having 9 planets? Couldn't the International Astronomical Jerkholes Union just have made an exception in this one case? I don't care what name you give it- dwarf planet, pluton, moon of unusual size- just let us keep our little frozen buddy in the planetary line-up. Now what will our children say? My Very Educated Mother Just Served Us Nine..... what?!! What did she serve us?! Aiiiiieeee! Right. I guess instead of expanding the definition of what is a planet and risk taking on a number of 12 planets (or more, many more!), the panty-waist astronomers decided to just downgrade Pluto! Well, I'll tell you what you mister know-it-all science nerds, this isn't over! Not by a long shot!!  |
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Post by goldk on Aug 25, 2006 9:15:47 GMT -5
Preach on brother! There's probably some great conspiracy behind it. like in nine years when the probe to pluto fails they can say, oh well, it wasn't really a planet anyway.
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Post by Brandon on Aug 25, 2006 9:46:47 GMT -5
It's crazy I think and a lot of semantics. But now it's a dwarf planet along with Charon, Ceres, and (I-really-hope-they-change-the-name) Xena. That's making for a really complicated mnemonic device. And then what do we do when we find more? As the tech gets better we could potentially find hundreds of objects that meet the dwarf planet criteria! Stop the madness! Leave it at nine planets and categorize the rest as "everything else"! But that's just not going to happen most likely...
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Dr Dread
Staff 
The Odious-1
Posts: 1,547
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Post by Dr Dread on Aug 25, 2006 21:21:02 GMT -5
Hmm. Y'know I think Saturn, Jupiter and Neptune should be struck from the consideration of a planet.
Think about it... 99% of those planets is just atmosphere.
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Post by Brandon on Aug 25, 2006 21:54:20 GMT -5
There you go. First Pluto and now those so-called gas giants masquarading as our brothers of genuine rock and mud. Boot all the pretenders and wannabes out and we'll get it down to like 3 or 4 actual planets. Life will be so much simpler then.  I think part of the newly defined conditions for what a planet is relies on a mass to be large enough to have taken on a spheroid shape and also the ability to clear all lesser bodies from it's orbit by either absorbing them, taking them on as moons, etc. The gas giants seem to fit all the generalized criteria but poor little Pluto is hanging out way out on the solar rim with all the system's gutter trash in the Kuiper Belt, most of which now seems to be comparable in size or enough of a rival to really blur the lines. Plus there's some brouhaha about Pluto's wacky orbit not being all proper like for an upstanding planetoid. They could have classified Pluto and Charon as a binary planet and given it special status but then they would have had to take on Planet X also and I guess in the end it was just more simple the other way. But again, what is a planet? I think by opening up the cans of worms of trying to put strict definitions on this and on the variety of phenomenon in our system as yet and not yet discovered will eventually prove to be too big a headache. Just give us Pluto back! |
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Dr Dread
Staff
The Odious-1
Posts: 1,547
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Post by Dr Dread on Aug 26, 2006 17:40:03 GMT -5
They could have classified Pluto and Charon as a binary planet and given it special status but then they would have had to take on Planet X also and I guess in the end it was just more simple the other way. But again, what is a planet? Please tell me you were kidding about Planet X! For those who don't know what Planet X is, read this: Planet X debacle on BadAstronomy.com |
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Post by starlord on Aug 26, 2006 19:07:44 GMT -5
I just have to say Dr. that your avatar is way cool!
sorry to interrupt...
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Post by Brandon on Aug 26, 2006 19:12:06 GMT -5
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Dr Dread
Staff
The Odious-1
Posts: 1,547
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Post by Dr Dread on Aug 28, 2006 7:10:57 GMT -5
I just have to say Dr. that your avatar is way cool! sorry to interrupt... Yeah the avatar is from this cool student movie: 
UNFAIRIt's from the same guy who did the long running (5 years!)
RPG WORLD on-line comic. There you go, two great links in one post!  |
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Post by Admin on Aug 28, 2006 8:14:23 GMT -5
Honestly, I'm secretly relieved about this.
Growing up, we were always told that the planet farthest from the sun was Pluto, but as it passes inside the orbit of Neptune, making Neptune the farthest for many years at a time, I grew disillusioned. What a fraud!
How could I ever trust Pluto again?
I feel bad for Charon, though. Screwed just for hanging out with the poseur planet...
I'm going to go listen to Holst (Note: No Pluto there!) and try to forget this whole sordid affair...
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Post by Brandon on Aug 28, 2006 8:22:59 GMT -5
There you go. Pluto's being put down for its nonconformist orbit.
It was the little planet that could for over 70 years! It had a wacky orbit but it held in there, dodging Neptune left and right! It's moon was ginormous and tried to steal its thunder, but did that stop it? Heck no! Pluto was working against the odds, and how is it rewarded for standing up to be counted in the face of adversity? It's been relegated to the sticks and lumped in with a batch of non-planet losers. Kicked to the solar curb and expunged from its lofty status in the heavens forever.
Alas poor Pluto, we knew ye well.
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Post by Admin on Aug 28, 2006 8:27:52 GMT -5
Passionate Posters for Pluto!
Who's down wit' PPP?
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Post by Brandon on Aug 28, 2006 8:33:54 GMT -5
And that's why it will be almost impossible to really a group in Pluto's defense....
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