Pluto; The Dwarf Planet; Top News!

[bow4lyf]

Today at the International Astronomical Union (IAU) General Assembly in Prague, astronomers decided that the Solar System has eight planets, and Pluto is not one of them. Instead, Pluto is a "dwarf planet."

To be a planet, the assembly ruled, a world must meet three criteria:

(1) It must have enough mass and gravity to gather itself into a ball.

(2) It must orbit the sun.

(3) It must reign supreme in its own orbit, having "cleared the neighborhood" of other competing bodies.

So, e.g., mighty Jupiter, which circles the sun supreme in its own orbit, is a planet--no adjective required. Pluto, on the other hand, shares the outer solar system with thousands of Pluto-like objects. Because it has not "cleared its own neighborhood," it is a dwarf planet.

This decision clarifies the vocabulary of planetary astronomy while simultaneously upturning 76 years of "Pluto is a planet" pop-culture. Will non-specialists heed Pluto's demotion? That remains to be seen. Meanwhile, according to the IAU, the Solar System has eight planets: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune; and three dwarf planets: Ceres, Pluto and 2003 UB313.

Information Provided By Spaceweather. Copied onto Titan Board.

[zipcat]

Interesting... hrm.


I would like to comment on one thing, though, bow4lyf. It was very wise of you to quote your source even for something as simple as this. Thanks for doing so

[BullMinotaur]

Ok it's not a planet. That is crazy after having a dog named Pluto! All the time we thought it would be a planet to vist but we could not cuz it was way to cold. If we did really go there we would frezz to death no matter how many layers of clothes you put on. I wounder one thing how could is it there for real? Cuz I know you can frezz somthing so cold that the molecules would not move. It's called 0 K? Not sure. But I now if some thing was that could you could keep a stake for ever if you could keep it that cold. So I really wonder how cold it is there. We could frezz food to keep in case the supper valcano ever went off we could have food in Pluto eat.

So what do you think about that? What is the 0 called?
I just thought of it after thinking so hard about Pluto.

[bow4lyf]

Anytime Zip...

and Bull, its called The Absolute Zero, which is at 0 degrees on the Kelvin scale and i think, if im not mistake, -273 Celsius. The Absolute Zero is the lowest temperture that could ever happen. One mistake Bull, it is so cold that particles are in very slow motion, almost stopped moving. Remember Bull, particles are always in motion no matter what.

Bow

[BullMinotaur]

Thanks Bow. But I wounder if it is that cold on Pluto. It would be some thing to find out.

[Ominous]

It's theoretically impossible due to the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle. However, many other theoretically impossible things, such as destroying matter, can be achieved, so who knows? On Pluto, however, it's most likely not that cold.

And absolute zero is -273.15 °C. Yeah. I'm crazy.

[bow4lyf]

>_< ! Damn! How could I be short .15!!!!

*Slaps head*

I dont think thers place in any solar system thats thats cold, considering that every solar system has radiational energy. But some outer spiral arms that are either asteroids floating around, or without light/heat's reach.

[Curulan]

You will never find 0K anywhere. The laws of thermodynamics forbid it. About the only times you'll see temperatures anywhere near that are when deaing with cryogenics.

[BullMinotaur]

It would have been cool. Thanks for making me think correct.

[bow4lyf]

If u like cold, try the arctic. My dad went there once. Your skin cannot be exposed, it had to sealed tight or else it would be frozen dead. Try spitting into the air, it would freeze before landing on the ground. That temperature is nowhere near Absolute 0. Now try to think how cold Absolute 0 would be....

[Ominous]

It would have been cool.

Nice Pun, there.

The laws of Thermodynamics are subject to many annoying technicalities, much like the rest of the laws of physics.

It would theoretically be possible to get something that cold if you exceeded its temperature to over infinity degrees, any measurement. But, then again, it's theoretically possible to turn an apple into a grape with a melon-baller.

[BullMinotaur]

I do not like the cold. I hate cold that why I live in New Mexico. It's all ways nice and hot or warm. Some times it snows, I do like the snow, but I do like water from snow. I hate any thing cold. You can have me in a 110 which is about how hot it was for most of the summer here.

I was just thinking about the supper valcono that supposed to go off and will kill ever thing in the ash. So how would we eat. If we could safe food some how we could live. There are 10 supper valcan here on Earth. So it was just a thought. I see now that it could not work.

[Slicky]

Hmmm, absolute zero, eh?

I had originally thought that absolute zero was defined as the temperature in which ALL particles quit moving. That is why it is the number what it is and that is also why it cannot be achieved unless we use some sort of superfreezer.

so I do contest the claim that particles will always still move, only because I believe that is why aboslute zero is what it is, and the particles necessarily must not move if the temperature is to be absolute zero.

And I am sure there are places in space that at least temporarily exist at absolute zero, where life could be held in permanent stasis. Pluto is not one of those places, although I doubt you could survive for more than 45 seconds on the surface of the planet, if that.

[RazielTheReaverOfSouls]

Well said slick, but suppose we had master gravitronics and pulled a random star just a touch closer to pluto ne? Then it'd be too hot! Ha!

Gravitronics would be SO cool...

[Strife]

Don't worry Pluto, they might not acknowledge you..but I'll never forget the good times we had together.

as my previous girlfriend said about our sex life, it's hard to miss something you never had.