And then there were 12

http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticleNew.asp?xfile=data/theworld/2006/August/theworld_August550.xml§ion=theworld

So now the IAU says we have 12 Planets!



Mercury
Venus
Earth
Mars
Ceres
Jupiter
Uranus
Neptune
Pluto & Charon
Xena

My very educated mother can't just use nine planets considering xena. (heh - weak - but the best I can do on short notice)

So the conclusion is that any star orbiting object (and not orbiting another planet) with gravity strong enough to pull itself into a sphere is a planet. Charon was formerly considered a moon of Pluto (along with Hydra and Nix) but is now considered a planet on its own making Pluto-Charon a double planet.

The Pluto type objects are being given a new classification of "Plutons"

... the IAU said Pluto meets its proposed new definition of a planet: any round object larger than 800 kilometers (nearly 500 miles) in diameter that orbits the sun and has a mass roughly one-12,000th that of Earth. Moons and asteroids will make the grade if they meet those basic tests.

Roundness is key, experts said, because it indicates an object has enough self-gravity to pull itself into a spherical shape. Yet Earth’s moon would not qualify because the two bodies’ common center of gravity lies below the surface of the Earth.

Of course this would also seem to mean Sedna and Quaoar will be planets as well. Also true for Orcus (90482 Orcus), Ixion (28978 Ixion), Varuna (20000 Varuna), "Easterbunny" (2005 FY₉) and "Santa" (2003 EL₆₁).

I'm glad to see Ceres in there - I always wanted it to be a planet. Click HERE for a great graphic of all the other objects being considered for planet status.

And then there were 12

Originally published at Twixel.net. You can comment here or there.

http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticleNew.asp?xfile=data/theworld/2006/August/theworld_August550.xml&section=theworld

So now the IAU says we have 12 Planets!

Mercury
Venus
Earth
Mars
Ceres
Jupiter
Uranus
Neptune
Pluto & Charon
Xena

My very educated mother can’t just use nine planets considering xena. (heh - weak - but the best I can do on short notice)

So the conclusion is that any star orbiting object (and not orbiting another planet) with gravity strong enough to pull itself into a sphere is a planet. Charon was formerly considered a moon of Pluto (along with Hydra and Nix) but is now considered a planet on its own making Pluto-Charon a double planet.

The Pluto type objects are being given a new classification of “Plutons”

… the IAU said Pluto meets its proposed new definition of a planet: any round object larger than 800 kilometers (nearly 500 miles) in diameter that orbits the sun and has a mass roughly one-12,000th that of Earth. Moons and asteroids will make the grade if they meet those basic tests.

Roundness is key, experts said, because it indicates an object has enough self-gravity to pull itself into a spherical shape. Yet Earth’s moon would not qualify because the two bodies’ common center of gravity lies below the surface of the Earth.

Of course this would also seem to mean Sedna and Quaoar will be planets as well. Also true for Orcus (90482 Orcus), Ixion (28978 Ixion), Varuna (20000 Varuna), “Easterbunny” (2005 FY₉) and “Santa” (2003 EL₆₁).

I’m glad to see Ceres in there - I always wanted it to be a planet. Click HERE for a great graphic of all the other objects being considered for planet status.

Very cute :-)

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Very cute :-)

Originally published at Twixel.net. You can comment here or there.

http://www.youtube.com/v/0FenUvFAiwk

We Have Met the Enemy in the War On Terror. . . and He Is Us

http://www.ncc-1776.org/tle2006/tle380-20060813-03.html


Interesting perspective. Pretty much the same thinking I have on this.