6 replies to this topic

[BuffaloHelp]

The controversial debate on what defines a planet could bring (perhaps already did) our solar system from 9 planets to 12 planets.

The current list plus proposed new planets in bold:

Mercury Venus Earth Mars Ceres Juipiter Saturn Uranus Neptuen Charon Pluto Xena

This new list of planets is due to redefining what "planet" is... the shape, size, material and orbit etc. It's not that new planets were discovered, just the definition has new meanings. The universe perhaps just got larger.

Among other links try http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/plan...ons_030227.html

This will kill my memorization: My Very Educated Mother Just Served Us Nice Pizza, each representing the first letters of 9 planets.

[Albus Dumbledore]

schweet, lol time to memorize those planets wacky-names, good catch buff!

i dont think it would be that hard to add the three planets in there

[cangor]

it's good to see they finally found a definition of "planet..."
I'm an avid astronomer so I've been watching this debate for a while... I've always thought Pluto and Xena were "Planets," though I didn't expect Ceres, the largest asteroid in the "inner belt" between jupiter and mars to be considered a planet, though it is predicted in the Titus Bode Law
(http://www.enchanted...ry/indext.shtml)
go to this ^^ link and scroll down to it for a description of what it is...

[TypoMage]

Oh well I never memorized any of the planets in the first place. So this will give me a good excuse
But very interesting I did here something about a planet beyond Pluto. Xena But I thought they called it planet X. Oh my god they need to get there stuff together.

[elevenmil]

I think this is stupid, obviously as time progresses the definitions of everything become more controversial, now we're on the topic of planets...

Wow I wonder how many planets we'll have in 10 years...my prediction...I would say around 25...

[gameratheart]

Actually, because of this new definition for Planets, it is being heavily debated as to what now constitutes as a planet, and it looks like Pluto will no longer be a planet after all. At least, that is the recent news we in the UK have heard of it...

The new definition and the rulings resulting from it are supposed to take effect starting on the 24th, so things can still happen during that time to change all this...

But I agree with elevenmil, the definition of everything is becoming more controvercial. And while I happily accept and celebrate the finding of new planets and objects in our solar system, I don't agree with how the scientists are changing the rules so much, that it makes it so that three new "planets" have just been "discovered", when really we all knew they were there the whole time.

[dreus]

Well, I think that tweaking the definitions could be beneficial in that it'll make the "scientific language" a lot more universal. Take the elements of the periodic table for instance. C is known worldwide as Carbon. There is no debate as to which element 'C' would stand for on any document outlining chemical processes, regardless of which language it is written in.

Having that clear distinction of what a certain term refers to, in this case the word "planet" will greatly help in clearing up any ambiguity and confusion that occurs when nations collaborate together to discuss these matters as less will be loss in translation.

To add to the news report of the 12 planets, the IAU is planning on renaming the planet Xena... guess they didn't think the Warrior Princess (really, this was the original basis of the name) was very deserving of her own planet.