Pluto is dead.

[MuNkY]

Officially, Pluto is no longer a planet.

Capping years of intense debate, astronomers resolved Thursday to demote Pluto in a wholesale redefinition of planethood that is being billed as a victory of scientific reasoning over historic and cultural influences. But the decision is already being hotly debated.



"Pluto is dead," said Mike Brown, a planetary scientist at the California Institute of Technology who spoke with reporters via a teleconference while monitoring the vote. The decision also means a Pluto-sized object that Brown discovered will not be called a planet.


"Pluto is not a planet," Brown said. "There are finally, officially, eight planets in the solar system."

The vote involved just 424 astronomers who remained for the last day of a meeting of the International Astronomical Union in Prague.

"I'm embarrassed for astronomy. Less than 5 percent of the world's astronomers voted," said Alan Stern, leader of NASA's New Horizons mission to Pluto and a scientist at the Southwest Research Institute.

"This definition stinks, for technical reasons," Stern told Space.com. He expects the astronomy community to overturn the decision. Other astronomers criticized the definition as ambiguous.

The resolution
The decision establishes three main categories of objects in our solar system.

Planets: The eight worlds starting with Mercury and moving out to Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune.
Dwarf planets: Pluto and any other round object that "has not cleared the neighborhood around its orbit, and is not a satellite."
Small solar system bodies: All other objects orbiting the sun.
Pluto and its moon Charon, which would both have been planets under the initial definition proposed Aug. 16, now get demoted because they are part of a sea of other objects that occupy the same region of space. Earth and the other eight large planets have, on the other hand, cleared broad swaths of space of any other large objects.

"Pluto is a dwarf planet by the ... definition and is recognized as the prototype of a new category of trans-Neptunian objects," states the approved resolution.

Dwarf planets are not planets under the definition, however.

"There will be hundreds of dwarf planets," Brown predicted. He has already found dozens that fit the category.

Contentious logic
The vote came after eight days of contentious debate that involved four separate proposals at the group's meeting in Prague.

ALL ABOUT PLUTO

• Pluto's day: 6.4 Earth days.
• Pluto's year: 248 Earth years.
• Average distance from sun: 3.7 billion miles, or 5.9 billion kilometers.
• What's in a name? Pluto is also the name of the Roman god of the underworld. It was suggested by many people, but credit was given to an 11-year-old girl from England.
• Click for more from "The Nine Planets"
MSNBC / AP


The initial proposal, hammered out by a group of seven astronomers, historians and authors, attempted to preserve Pluto as a planet but was widely criticized for diluting the meaning of the word. It would also have made planets out of the asteroid Ceres and Pluto's moon Charon. But not now.

"Ceres is a dwarf planet. it's the only dwarf planet in the asteroid belt," Brown said. "Charon is a satellite."

The category of "dwarf planet" is expected to include dozens of round objects already discovered beyond Neptune. Ultimately, hundreds will probably be found, astronomers say.

The word "planet" originally described wanderers of the sky that moved against the relatively fixed background of star. Pluto, discovered in 1930, was at first thought to be larger than it is. It has an eccentric orbit that crosses the path of Neptune and also takes it well above and below the main plane of the solar system.

Recent discoveries of other round, icy object in Pluto's realm have led most astronomers to agree that the diminutive world should never have been termed a planet.

'A farce'
Stern, in charge of the robotic probe on its way to Pluto, said the language of the resolution is flawed. It requires that a planet "has cleared the neighborhood around its orbit." But Earth, Mars, Jupiter and Neptune all have asteroids as neighbors.

"It's patently clear that Earth's zone is not cleared," Stern told Space.com. "Jupiter has 50,000 Trojan asteroids," which orbit in lockstep with the planet.

Stern called it "absurd" that only 424 astronomers were allowed to vote, out of about 10,000 professional astronomers around the globe.

"It won't stand," he said. "It's a farce."

Stern said astronomers are already circulating a petition that would try to overturn the IAU decision.

I dunno the official sourse, but either way, this is interesting. Thoughts?

 

[marypops!]

read about this a while ago now it's gonna confuse people who learnt poems on the 9 planets but there's now My Vulture Eats Magical Jumping Snakes Until November to remember the now 8 planets and also means we will have to learn the dwarf planets too (or the minor planets) which Pluto is now a part of

 

[stitchgonecrazy]

interesting i have been hearing about this all over the place even before it became new my sciece teacher keep saying it

 

[Loves Disney]

Darn, I said it would take 250 years before they killed this one off...now I owe 20 bucks to some bum on the street.

 

[Sparx]

interesting.

 

[StitchfansJr]

I remember reading in a Times For Kids for school, that for the past year of 06 or 05 they were debating if Pluto was a planet or not.

 

[DizParks]

R.I.P. Pluto you will be missed as our 9th planet. 1930-2006

 

[GirlWithSpunk]

Very interesting. Haven't heard about this before..thanks for the update!

 

[Babyjustrun]

whoa.
that's weird.

btw, when it said pluto was dead, i thought you meant the Disney Character xD

but i know you meant the planet now.

 

[GirlWithSpunk]

whoa.
that's weird.

btw, when it said pluto was dead, i thought you meant the Disney Character xD

but i know you meant the planet now.

So did I!!

 

[kaw1218]

read about this a while ago now it's gonna confuse people who learnt poems on the 9 planets but there's now My Vulture Eats Magical Jumping Snakes Until November to remember the now 8 planets and also means we will have to learn the dwarf planets too (or the minor planets) which Pluto is now a part of

When I was in grade school ours was......Matthew Victor eats mice just so Uncle Ned pukes!!!! I'm not sure which is funnier!!!

 

[GirlWithSpunk]

I've always remembered it by: My Very Educated Mother Just Served Us Nine Pizzas

 

[Loves Disney]

I've always remembered it by: My Very Educated Mother Just Served Us Nine Pizzas

I thought it was pies? heh.

 

[CrazyChik]

lol byr pluto you will be missed and thankyou george thats now how i will remember it

 

[Starfire]

Interesting Its going to be hard to forget Pluto is a planet lol bye Pluto

 

[Babyjustrun]

Pluto was my favorite planet...
now it's my favorite dwarf planet =(

 

[swebri94]

i kno i love pluto! It was soo cool (litterally...it was freezing)...lol

ok that was not funny

anyway.... i cant belive that. Scientists should not confuse ppl and now say we got rid of pluto now theres only 8 planets. Just leave the solar system alone!!!

 

[StitchFan?LiKE WHOA.]

So did I!!

HAHA me too!

 

[SoccerTink]

id this about pluto bot being considered a planet because i heard all this info + more 2 weeks ago.

 

[U Just Got PUNKD]

Woooooooooooooww..
=O