Excitement throughout the solar system!
This just in: Pluto is no longer a planet!
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060824/ap_on_sc/planet_mutiny
I don't know about you guys, but I'm really excited...
I'm excited because Pluto, in very many ways, doesn't fit planetary classification. It has an eccentric, non-planar orbit, and it's not a gas giant - which any planet outside of the frost line should be. It just doesn't fit into the nebular model of planetary formation... but who was going to argue with the optimism of the Modern Age?
The discovery of UB313, an object similar to Pluto but larger, in 2003 really added some weight to the Pluto planetary pettifoggery. Funny thing - among members of the astronomical community, UB313 was nicknamed "Xena." It's moon was nicknamed "Gabrielle." Before I roll my eyes... AYAYAYAYAYAYAYAY!! *backflip*
A new (and yet to be named) class of trans-Neptunian objects has been established to include Pluto, UB313, and the asteroid Ceres. The International Astronomical Union is currently taking applications for new members.
posted by sausagequeen @ 10:51 AM
10 Comments:
Be honest now, how many espresso shots have you had today?
I lost count, I really did - but you called it alright...
Matt, why has this got you so excited? I think there really is something to ba said for relevance. Who cares what we call these things? They're big rocks very far away...But this could also why I am no astronomer, and barely scarped through the class to get a damn IN. :-)
However, Yay! Lesbians! Too bad they're so far away, I don't think I can handle a long distance relationship. ;-)
I'm a closet astronomy dork. I don't care much for constellations and all that mess, but universe and planetary formation fascinates me.
Who cares what we call things?? Words are very powerful things, Jenni! Yeh, I guess it's not so important what we call it... I've just had a chip on my shoulder for Pluto for some time.
Fun fact - solar winds are slowly sublimating the icy surface of Pluto... like a comet. In fact... if Pluto approached the Sun, it would produce a tail. Doesn't sound very planetary, does it??
I'm a closet astronomy nerd too. I actually have a reflecting telescope that I should bring to school in the fall (I wonder where it is? If my Dad got rid of it I'm going to be very upset). In elementary school I always checked out the astronomy books, I loved the faded color photographs of the Viking and Voyager Satellites (that gold disc thing that Carl Sagan was involved with), and I especially loved the early space days. When I was 14 I had the pleasure of visiting the Kennedy Space center, and I had a one-on-one with a Saturn V. It was beautiful.
I'm a bit rusty because I've tried to put all of that behind me...there is quite a bit more to this that I don't have the energy right now to write about, but in a nutshell my telescope spent the last two years of my high school days in the closet.
Please forgive the spelling and grammatical errors.
See, I was really into it when I was younger, like in fifth grade, but the parts that I liked best were the stars and constelations because I liked the mythologies that when with them. The processes of formation and the specific vocabulary--and the other actual science parts--never really excited me much.
The only thing astronomical that excited you was boldly going where no man had gone before.
Hehehe, true. You know, they dropped that from the opening on Voyager (which is the series with which I am most familiar), yet their crew goes the furthest into space (albeit accidentally).
To haphazardly go where no crew has stumbled upon before...
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