Last I heard is that some "official" body was going to change the number from 9 planets in our solar system to 12. Now, some "official" body is saying Pluto is getting the boot, bringing the number back to 8. This is according to CNN.com, anyway. Why is there so much uncertainty about this? And who really gets to call the shots about such things? I'm confused.

i believe that, as stated in the article you linked to, the international astronomical union is in charge of deciding the fate of planets.

as i understood it, one major problem was that some moons are bigger than pluto, so there was some idea floated to make a planet definition, in addition to the current "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", be something about not orbiting anything other than the sun. and then it went all haywire.

there was an article last week where they asked people and hardly any seemed to care, not even school teachers. they said the kids would hardly notice, as long as they didn't have to now know all of the minor planets that pluto has joined in the second-tier of milky way celestial bodies.

CNN just said Pluto's now designated a "dwarf planet." So now we got somewhere to send the little buggers.

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.

Pluto looks pissed....

now my mnemonic is meaningless.

More Vampires Eating Many Jalepeno Seeds Under Northern

Pluto's status as a planet was always suspect at best. I mean, when I cut my toenails, I dont name them and suddenly consider them human, do I?

Do I?

I don't, but now I'm suspicious that you do.

i feel totally fucking ripped off bout that 15 acres i purchased on pluto

ill never be able to sell it back for what i bought it for

i guess i could keep boxes there or somethin

My favorite Chicago Transit Authority song.

Thus marks the first and last time anyone ever attempts to make a "25 or 6 to 4" joke on Obner...

Better telescopes?

Thanks for explaining it. I had no idea otherwise.