12 Planets?

[Richards]

Today's "Sheldon" strip was pretty topical, I thought:

http://www.sheldoncomics.com/comics/sheldon/archive/sheldon-20060820.html

Johnathan

 

[Jdvn1]

Today's "Sheldon" strip was pretty topical, I thought:

http://www.sheldoncomics.com/comics/sheldon/archive/sheldon-20060820.html

Johnathan

Pretty funny.

I just feel compelled to mention that they didn't redefine "planet" and that the definition wasn't designed to fit majority decision.

 

[BOZ]

i just think it would be totally cool if they named a planet Orcus.

 

[Zander]

I'd much rather see them name the 10th/11th planet (I really don't like the thought of considering Charon a planet itself, but if I bothered to check into the scientific reasoning and stats behind it, I might change my mind and be okay with it) Nox (Roman) or Nyx (Greek)...

One of Pluto's moons is already called Nix so that would rule out Nyx on the grounds that they're too similar.

I'm in favour of naming a planet Gygax.

 

[Piratecat]

They did that on purpose.

With great respect, duh.

Seriously, I know. I just think it's funny. It lacks the proper gravitas, but I smile every time I think of it.

 

[Pbartender]

i just think it would be totally cool if they named a planet Orcus.

There already is... See above.

 

[BOZ]

oh, well then that's totally cool.

 

[occam]

Actually, there never was a formal definition of what a planet was... Up until now, the definition of a planet was, essentially, "Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto are planets."

Pluto was a planet simply because the IAU said it was, not because it met any qualifying criteria.

Also be aware that even thought the new proposal is likely to pass, it still needs to be voted on and isn't official just yet.

It's going to be ridiculous if this new proposal passes. So now we'll have a new planet between Mars and Jupiter? And much worse, as more and more large Kuiper Belt objects are discovered, textbooks will be outdated before they're published. It'll be impossible to keep up. A year or two from now, we could be looking at a solar system with dozens of "planets", and more on the way.

Pluto needs to get dropped from the roster. Other than history, pretty soon we'll see there's nothing that distinct about it compared to dozens, or hundreds, or possibly thousands of other rocky ice balls out beyond Neptune. At least with the other 8, we can expect to keep the number of planets stable.

 

[Pbartender]

And much worse, ... textbooks will be outdated before they're published. It'll be impossible to keep up.

How is it that different from the current situation?

Pluto needs to get dropped from the roster. Other than history, pretty soon we'll see there's nothing that distinct about it compared to dozens, or hundreds, or possibly thousands of other rocky ice balls out beyond Neptune. At least with the other 8, we can expect to keep the number of planets stable.

Oh, come now, that's historical cussedness talking too... "We've only ever had 9 planets! We don't want more! In fact, let's get rid of one!"



But that's the whole point... We're learning that there's a lot more floating around our solar system than we ever thought. It's the interplanetary equivalent of Balboa crossing Panama and finding out that, "Hey! There's a whole other ocean over here!"

 

[Ranger REG]

I'm in favour of naming a planet Gygax.

Oh, great. :\

All we need is a bunch of geekish colonists to call themselves Gygaxians.