{"id":10155,"date":"2006-08-22T19:39:09","date_gmt":"2006-08-23T02:39:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/2006\/08\/22\/poor-pluto.html"},"modified":"2006-08-22T19:39:09","modified_gmt":"2006-08-23T02:39:09","slug":"poor_pluto","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2006\/08\/22\/poor_pluto.html","title":{"rendered":"Poor Pluto"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n<\/div>\n

Rather than being part of the Gang of Twelve<\/a>, it may be left out in the cold<\/a> … <\/p>\n

\n

\u201cI think that today can go down as the \u2018day we lost Pluto,\u2019 \u201d Jay Pasachoff of Williams College said in an e-mail message from Prague. <\/p>\n

Under fire from other astronomers and the public, a committee appointed by the International Astronomical Union revised and then revised again a definition proposed last week that would have expanded the number of official planets to 12, locking in Pluto as well as the newly discovered Xena in the outer solar system, as well as the asteroid Ceres and Pluto\u2019s moon Charon. <\/p>\n

The new definition offered today would set up a three-tiered classification scheme with eight \u201cplanets\u201d; a group of \u201cdwarf-planets\u201d that would include Pluto, Ceres, Xena and many other icy balls in the outer solar system; and thousands of \u201csmaller solar system bodies,\u201d like comets and asteroids. <\/p>\n

The bottom line, said Owen Gingerich, the Harvard astronomer who is chairman of the I.A.U.\u2019s planet definition committee, is that in the new definition, \u201cPluto is not a planet.\u201d <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Evidently being a planet is all about being Master of Your Orbit.<\/p>\n

\n

The committee\u2019s original prime criterion was roundness, meaning that a planet had to be big enough so that gravity would overcome internal forces and squash it into a roughly spherical shape. But a large contingent of astronomers, led by Julio Fernandez of the University of the Republic in Montevideo, Uruguay, has argued that a planet must also be massive enough to clear other objects out of its orbital zone. Dr. Gingerich admitted, \u201cThey are in control of things.\u201d<\/p>\n

So the newest resolution includes the requirement for orbital dominance as a condition for full-fledged planethood, Dr. Gingerich said. That knocks out Pluto, which crosses the orbit of Neptune, and Xena, which orbits among the icy wrecks of the Kuiper Belt, and Ceres, which is in the asteroid belt. <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

And then there was the whole Astronomy \/ Geology turf war that was brewing.<\/p>\n

Dr. Gingerich cautioned that there were many things still to be sorted out. For example, the International Astronomical Union might consider creating a special name for Pluto and other dwarf-planets, like Xena and others yet to be discovered, that dwell out beyond Neptune. If it did, he said that \u201cplutonians\u201d seemed like a likelier choice than the previous suggestion, \u201cplutons.\u201d That term was protested by geologists, who pointed out that it was already used in earth science for nuggets of molten rock
\nthat have solidified and reached the surface.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Pluto’s being stuck into a seriously Mickey Mouse category. How Goofy. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Rather than being part of the Gang of Twelve, it may be left out in the cold … \u201cI think that today can go down as the \u2018day we…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10155","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-science"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":10166,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2006\/08\/21\/i_remember_plut.html","url_meta":{"origin":10155,"position":0},"title":"I Remember Pluto","author":"***Dave","date":"Mon 21-Aug-06 7:12am","format":false,"excerpt":"For those concerned that the potential redefinition of the roster of planets in Prague this week will completely mess up their mnemonic for remembering the list in the first place,...","rel":"","context":"In "Science & Nature"","block_context":{"text":"Science & Nature","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/science"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":51757,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2015\/07\/16\/dwarf-planet-or-not-im-impressed.html","url_meta":{"origin":10155,"position":1},"title":"Dwarf planet or not, I'm impressed","author":"***Dave","date":"Thu 16-Jul-15 4:57am","format":false,"excerpt":"And not just with Pluto itself. I mean, Pluto has been synonymous for \"way the hell out there\" since its discovery, yet now we have close, detailed, faboo pictures of its surface and that of its large moon, Charon. How incredibly cool is that?We hurled an exploration device in its\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":7875,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2005\/08\/01\/the_ever_changi.html","url_meta":{"origin":10155,"position":2},"title":"The ever-changing heavens","author":"***Dave","date":"Mon 1-Aug-05 8:26pm","format":false,"excerpt":"So it was only yesterday -- literally -- when Katherine was commenting over breakfast about how Pluto is the planet furthest from the Sun. Aside from being impressed by that...","rel":"","context":"In "Science & Nature"","block_context":{"text":"Science & Nature","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/science"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":137076,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2018\/09\/07\/its-not-too-late-for-planet-pluto.html","url_meta":{"origin":10155,"position":3},"title":"It’s not too late for Planet Pluto!","author":"***Dave","date":"Fri 7-Sep-18 4:45pm","format":false,"excerpt":"A new paper says the IAU's claims around its definition for what a planet should be are flawed, and that Pluto fits the important aspects of planethood. Stay tuned! Pluto should be reclassified as a planet, experts say The reason Pluto lost its planet status is not valid, according to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/pluto-2.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":43561,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2014\/07\/14\/learn-about-pluto-before-everything-changes.html","url_meta":{"origin":10155,"position":4},"title":"Learn about Pluto before everything changes","author":"***Dave","date":"Mon 14-Jul-14 12:48pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Or, perhaps, \"Learn what we know about Pluto before the New Horizons probe shows us how much we didn't know about it.\"(h\/t +Les Jenkins)Reshared post from +WIREDGet ready to learn a bunch of awesome new science about the little planet that was, Pluto:http:\/\/wrd.cm\/1nyiwMD\ufeff View this post on Google+","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/2851-1e419a2a28aba2a753ed6fd0214a1b77.jpg.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":134010,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2017\/07\/31\/first-pluto-and-now-jupiter.html","url_meta":{"origin":10155,"position":5},"title":"First Pluto, and now Jupiter?","author":"***Dave","date":"Mon 31-Jul-17 10:05pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Not enough those \"scientists\" claim that Pluto isn't actually a planet, and now they claim that Jupiter doesn't actually circle the sun?Well, it turns out ... it's true. Jupiter is massive enough that the common point that it and the Sun both rotate around is outside the Sun's surface. Cool.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10155","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10155"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10155\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10155"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10155"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10155"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}