Pluto to regain status as ninth planet...?

[Candlelight]

http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/comment/2014/06/many-moons-of-pluto.html

This week, amid so much discouraging news of irredentist militias and unrepentant neocons, there was a small bit of news that might cheer people up, at least a little: Pluto, it seems, may be accepted back into the club of planets. It got kicked out, you will recall, eight years ago, when the I.A.U.—the International Astronomical Union, which exists to hold elections on these things—voted it out. It was too remote, too lonely, and generally too slovenly in its behavior to count as a planet. It even—lovely, incriminating phrase—failed to “clear the neighborhood around its orbit.” (And there seemed to be other even larger similar objects out beyond it.) It was demoted to a “dwarf planet,” and became a mere “Trans-Neptunian object.”

Now, though, Pluto has been discovered to have several moons, in regular orbit around it. It was already known to have three when it was de-listed, but the Hubble Space Telescope has since found two more. “Many Moons” was the title of James Thurber’s finest fable, and actually having many moons, apparently, helps make you a planet in the eyes of people on other ones, as having children was once said to make you an adult. One’s planetary distinction is redeemed, by this measure, by the clear presence of the orbit of the littler ones around you. And it could be a vindication for Pluto-lovers, too, a group who turn out to be more numerous than seems quite plausible. As you discover sifting through astronomical chat groups, the original decision to kick Pluto out of the planetary club was met with hysterical resistance, not to say resentment. Indeed, the state of Illinois decided, on its own, in 2009, to reinstate Pluto as a planet—making Pluto a planet when seen from Wrigley Field, merely a sub-Neptunian object across the way in Gary.

Go the little guy.

 

[Locutus of Bored]

In the Peter David Borg novel Before Dishonor, even by the 24th century the IAU and its successors had flip-flopped back and forth numerous times on Pluto's status as a planet, so he just had the Borg Cube absorb (sort of like assimilation on crack) the whole damn thing and solve the problem once and for all.

It was a humorous moment in a pretty bizarre novel. I won't even get into the Janeway stuff that made everyone lose their shit.

 

[Timewalker]

The Borg cube eating Pluto upset me a lot more than Janeway's death.

 

[Locutus of Bored]

To each their own. I thought it was a funny way of dealing (or not dealing) with the ongoing controversy at the time the book was written.

 

[scotpens]

I know the whole idea is a bit facetious, but it's silly to think that Pluto was "demoted" or downgraded in any way by being reclassified as a dwarf planet. It was simply, well, reclassified. I mean, it's not like being busted down in rank in the military. Pluto doesn't care what we call it.

 

[HIjol]

Proud to be from Illinois (mostly)...

...but what of Planet X?

...and is it really Charlie's home world?

 

[scotpens]

...but what of Planet X?

...and is it really Charlie's home world?

I don't think so. Charlie didn't look anything like this guy.

 

[Captrek]

You can see Pluto from Wrigley Field?

 

[Gryffindorian]

Peter David writes funny stuff. LOLz!!!

 

[Skywalker]

The IAU are gonna look really bad about dissing Pluto once we find that mass relay orbiting it.

 

[B.J.]

If they redefine things again now, wouldn't they also have to call Eris a planet, since it's larger than Pluto?

 

[Captrek]

I think they're not talking about a change in the definition of "planet," but arguing that the newly discovered moons might qualify Pluto under the currently existing definition.

 

[RoJoHen]

And next week in science...Brontosaurus was actually real!!!

 

[Timewalker]

Out of curiosity, do any of the other dwarf planets (ie. Eris, Sedna, Quaoar, etc.) have moons?

 

[Locutus of Bored]

Out of curiosity, do any of the other dwarf planets (ie. Eris, Sedna, Quaoar, etc.) have moons?

Yes.

 

[RJDiogenes]

Go, Pluto. Ich bin ein Plutonian.

Honestly, I don't care if Pluto is a planet or not. I just want them to have a definition of planet that makes scientific sense and isn't just a political move to limit the number of planets. Is Pluto really more different from Mercury than Mercury is from Jupiter?

You can see Pluto from Wrigley Field?

No, but you can see Minnie Mouse on Wrigley's Pleasure Planet.

 

[RoJoHen]

Not sure how it's supposed to be pronounced, but the way my brain is pronouncing it, "Makemake" sounds completely ridiculous.

 

[Timewalker]

I'm guessing its origin is either one of the North American Indian languages, or perhaps Hawaiian...?

 

[Locutus of Bored]

Makemake is the creator of humankind in the Rapa Nui myth of Easter Island. The naming convention for that particular class of dwarf planet has to be creator gods, and since it was discovered right after Easter, they wanted the connection with Easter Island. The nickname they used before choosing the official name was "Easterbunny."

 

[Deckerd]

Skywalker has yet another winner av.