New moon discovered at Pluto

[CaptainDonovin]

Space.com is reporting a 4th mon orbits Pluto. Looks like Peter David called that one in Before Dishonor.

http://www.space.com/12356-pluto-fourth-moon-discovery-hubble-photo.html

 

[YellowSubmarine]

Now there would be no surprise when New Horizons reaches Pluto. Damn spoilers. Somebody should sue Hubble for that early release of information.

On the bright side, it might turn out to be a space station!

 

[B.J.]

I wonder how Fwiffo feels with all these rocks hurtling above his head?

 

[Brandonv]

I didn't even know there was a second and third moon.

 

[Skywalker]

It's actually an ice-covered mass relay.

 

[Saquist]

I just new that was coming.

 

[SPCTRE]

It's actually an ice-covered mass relay.

I just new that was coming.

Beat me to it. Damn you guys, DAMN YOU

 

[Skywalker]

Too slow, old man.

 

[23skidoo]

The thing has 4 moons and still those IAU bastards don't believe it's a planet...

Spent my whole childhood and youth looking forward to the day a 10th Planet was announced, and we had one for about a year (and it was named Eris yet, which being a Robert Anton Wilson fan I greatly appreciated) and then some nerds took it away...

What's a planet?

1. Big enough to be spherical or close approximation thereof
2. Orbits the sun
3. Has frelling MOONS.*

Alex

* Or at least it could if it wanted to. No offence, Venus and Mercury.

 

[Kelso]

^ Living in a solar system with 8 planets and 5 dwarf planets (at this time [right??]) seems "cooler" to me than living in a system that just has nine ordinary planets.

And the discovery of additional dwarf planets seems far more likely than a tenth planet.

 

[YellowSubmarine]

Living in a solar system with 8 planets and 5 dwarf planets that are not planets seems like some bad joke designed to make linguists explode with anger. How and why is a dwarf planet not a planet, and why does it have planet in the name if it is not a planet? If it is not a planet, it would not have planet in the name. Heard of planetoid? Yeah, until you start calling it "dwarf planetoid", Pluto is a planet, and I refuse to accept otherwise.

How is the current situation better than having 13 planets:
4 gas giant planets
4 large terrestrial planets
3 dwarf planets

Oh, and if the Andorians came here, they would laugh that we call the Earth a planet as opposed to a moon, I'd say they think that only the gas giants are planets.

 

[SPCTRE]

Too slow, old man.

Ou dam keedz! Get off me loan!

 

[B.J.]

What's a planet?

1. Big enough to be spherical or close approximation thereof
2. Orbits the sun
3. Has frelling MOONS.*

* Or at least it could if it wanted to. No offence, Venus and Mercury.

I don't think you can use "has moons" as a discriminator. Pretty much anything that has mass can have a moon. Just look at Ida, which is one of many asteroids that have moons. And that particular one satisfies two out of three of your conditions.

 

[Santaman]

I wonder how Fwiffo feels with all these rocks hurtling above his head?

Star Control II ... ah yes..

I guess Fwifffo would be take permanent residence underneath the control consoles in fear of getting hit

 

[SPCTRE]

 

[Pavonis]

Amazing how emotional and defiant people can be over the status of an ice ball that's about 4 billion miles away.

As a planet, Pluto was the least of them. As a Kuiper belt object, it's one of the most significant.

 

[Mysterion]

Wonder what they'll end up naming it? "P4" just ain't got a ring to it, you know?

 

[Crazy Eddie]

Living in a solar system with 8 planets and 5 dwarf planets that are not planets seems like some bad joke designed to make linguists explode with anger. How and why is a dwarf planet not a planet...

Why is an asteroid not a planet? Why is a moon not a planet? Why is a brown dwarf a star and not a planet?

Once you count up all the round asteroids, moons and dwarf planets, you live in a solar system with HUNDREDS of planet-like objects swirling around each other. The only reason we classify them the way we do is because we can't VISIT them, we can only look at them through telescopes. Two hundred years from now when we've started colonizing the moons of Jupiter and Saturn, I believe that distinction will probably dissapear, and the inhabitants of Ganymede and Europa will probably refer to those moons as "Planets of the Jupiter system."

If it is not a planet, it would not have planet in the name.

That's like saying "If the Starship Enterprise wasn't a star, it wouldn't have 'star' in the name!"

"Dwarf planet" is to "planet" as "infant child" is to "child." The distinctoin is one of classification and type, mainly.

Heard of planetoid?

Now called "dwarf planet."

Pluto is a planet, and I refuse to accept otherwise.

Why? Nobody from Pluto gives a shit what it's called. I think you're taking up a rather unpopular cause there.

Oh, and if the Andorians came here, they would laugh that we call the Earth a planet as opposed to a moon, I'd say they think that only the gas giants are planets.

And as far as they're concerned, they would be correct. Language is funny like that.

 

[YellowSubmarine]

An infant child is a child. So a dwarf planet should be a planet. Adding a modifier, a common one even, should add more specific meaning, not make the word mean something else:

http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/003505.html

It breaks language. That's why it's a broken term.

The terms "asteroid" and "moon" aren't made of a modifier + "planet", so I don't see how they have anything to do with anything.

 

[Crazy Eddie]

An infant child is a child. So a dwarf planet should be a planet. Adding a modifier, a common one even, should add more specific meaning, not make the word mean something else

And what is a planet? A free floating body in space that is spherical, and does not orbit any other body. What is a dwarf planet? A really tiny planet which shares its orbital space with one or more larger planets and/or asteroids. If tomorrow morning we discovered another large planet circling the sun on a path that regularly crosses Earth's orbit, then EARTH would be a dwarf planet by that definition. If the moon suddenly jumped out of Earth's orbit and started spinning aorund the sun independently, it too would be a dwarf planet (theoretically, the moon was actually formed as the result of a collision between Earth and a mars-sized dwarf planet 4 billion years ago).

"Big enough to have a moon" has nothing to do with it; many of the main belt asteroids have moons (Kleopatra has two). And even then the only difference between an asteroid and a dwarf planet is that asteroids aren't spherical. In another couple of years, the distinction will probably be made between spherical and non-spherical moons as well.

It breaks language. That's why it's a broken term.

I don't hear language complaining. Just you.