New planet Found! (1 Viewer)

[Keith_R]

I haven't seen this posted yet and thought it was pretty cool. new planet found!

 

[Andrew Pratt]

What exactly is the definition of a planet? I've heard lots of talk on if Pluto is or isn't a planet but I don't really know what constitutes a planet?

 

[Tony Whalen]

I think debating between the titles "planet", "object" and/or "plantoid" is kinda silly. But that's just me.

"Sedna", huh? Interesting news!

 

[Steve Christou]

Sedna eh? Andes backwards, or undies if you prefer.

I don't know if it should be classified as a planet, it's even smaller than Pluto, and both Pluto and Sedna are smaller than our moon, which is 3476km in diameter. And to put things further in perspective the continent of Africa is larger than the circumference of the moon.

 

[Julian Reville]

Has anybody checked to see if we have any whales left?

 

[Richard Travale]

LMAO

 

[Scott Dautel]

My Very Elegant Mother Just Served Us Nine Pizza Slices ...

OK ... Sedna works for me

Scott

 

[Mary M S]

What exactly is the definition of a planet?

All the sub-categories for planet classes are confusing but isn’t the main difference between a ‘star’ which could be a planet nursery or planet eater as follows. “Star” defined as a self luminous object composed of gas with fusion occurring at its core. ‘Planet’ (of any size) larger than an asteroid but smaller than a star. Composed of a fusion-less solid core though not necessarily solidly formed to the planets exterior surface which may be composed of gaseous layers and capable of reflecting light yet not self-luminous? Planets always in orbit to stars?

 

[Andrew Testa]

The definition of 'planet' has been getting murky for a few years now since we now can see further out into the area beyond Pluto and also resolve the many small bodies that are bigger than asteroids and have independent orbits. Once we look at the icy bodies in the outer reaches of the system you'll find probably millions of iceballs like Sedna orbiting the sun. The more we learn, the less our old labels apply. At some point the arbiters of astronomical naming conventions will have to set defining lines, but they don't exist just yet.

Andy

 

[Jack Briggs]

Calling the International Astronomical Union ...

 

[Tony Whalen]

Good one.

 

[Zen Butler]

Don't go raggin' your fook with me Sedna, I'll send the Sandra to regulate.

 

[Erik.Ha]

I for one am a Pluto fan and would like to cast my vote for our much maligned neighbor's planetary status...

HERE HERE PLUTO!!!


(Sednas one too as far as Im concerned... I just dont feel as big an affinity for it...)

 

[Andrew Testa]

I fear we don't have enough letters in the alphabet to give names to all the 'planets' we'll find once we can see well into the Oort cloud. "News flash: 457 new planets discovered today, down 32 from yesterday. Astronomers believe this spring should bring an increase by 25% per day as a new lunar 25 meter observatory goes online..."

Andy

 

[Garrett Lundy]

Did we run out of Roman mythological names for planets or what?

 

[BrianW]

Yeah, if we call Sedna a planet, then we gotta call all the objects in the Oort cloud planets just to be fair. As fun as it would be to have a planet for every person on Earth (and then some), I don't think we can't let that happen. Pluto gets grandfathered into planet status due to our prior myopic ignorance, but that's it. From now on, in order of decsending size, I propose they should be known as:

Quasi-Planet
Meta-Planet
Planetoid
Planetisimal
Planetoidisimal
Near-Asteroid
Asteroidette
Space Mountain (Pending Disney's willingness to relinquish its trademark for the purpose.)
Space Foothill
Space Boulder
Space Rock
Space Pebble
Space Speck

Similarly, if we happen to find a planet in our solar system that is larger than Jupiter, I think we should call it a HyperPlanet.

O/T: Is it true that the Internation Astronomical Union has decided to changed the name of Uranus just so we don't have to listen to all the stupid jokes regarding its name? I think I read somewhere that they were planning on calling it Urectum.

(Apologies to Matt Groening and the writers of Futurama.)

 

[Mark Shannon]

[Joke Ruin Mode]That's a Star Trek reference, right?[/Joke Ruin]


Zen, have you ever made a sensible post?

 

[Patrick Sun]

[Stand By Me]What the hell is Pluto?[/Stand By Me]

 

[Erik.Ha]

[Stand By Me]He's a dog![/Stand By Me]

 

[Gary->dee]

[Star Wars]That's no planet. It's a space station![/Star Wars]