Nbadan
08-16-2006, 11:22 PM
http://gemart.galeon.com/images/12planets.gif
The Gods Must be Crazy!
Proposal would increase planets from 9 to 12
'Big Bang' expansion would keep Pluto in the mix
Wednesday, August 16, 2006
The International Astronomical Union is debating a plan to establish that our solar system has 12 planets.
PRAGUE, Czech Republic (AP) -- Our solar system would have 12 planets instead of nine under a proposed "Big Bang" expansion by leading astronomers, changing what billions of schoolchildren are taught about their corner of the cosmos.
Much-maligned Pluto would remain a planet -- and its largest moon plus two other heavenly bodies would join Earth's neighborhood -- under a draft resolution to be formally presented Wednesday to the International Astronomical Union, the arbiter of what is and is not a planet....
***
The proposal could change, however: ...the...nearly 2,500 astronomers from 75 nations meeting in Prague to hammer out a universal definition of a planet will hold two brainstorming sessions before they vote on the resolution next week. But the draft comes from the IAU's executive committee, which only submits recommendations likely to get two-thirds approval from the group.
Besides reaffirming the status of puny Pluto -- whose detractors insist should not be a planet at all -- the new lineup would include 2003 UB313, the farthest-known object in the solar system and nicknamed Xena; Pluto's largest moon, Charon; and the asteroid Ceres, which was a planet in the 1800s before it was demoted.
The panel also proposed a new category of planets called "plutons," referring to Pluto-like objects that reside in the Kuiper Belt, a mysterious, disc-shaped zone beyond Neptune containing thousands of comets and planetary objects. Pluto itself and two of the potential newcomers -- Charon and 2003 UB313 -- would be plutons.
CNN (http://www.cnn.com/2006/TECH/space/08/16/new.planets.ap/index.html)
I wonder if the planet gingle used to memorize the order of the planets can be adapted?
There are 12 major plantes in the solar system...
The Gods Must be Crazy!
Proposal would increase planets from 9 to 12
'Big Bang' expansion would keep Pluto in the mix
Wednesday, August 16, 2006
The International Astronomical Union is debating a plan to establish that our solar system has 12 planets.
PRAGUE, Czech Republic (AP) -- Our solar system would have 12 planets instead of nine under a proposed "Big Bang" expansion by leading astronomers, changing what billions of schoolchildren are taught about their corner of the cosmos.
Much-maligned Pluto would remain a planet -- and its largest moon plus two other heavenly bodies would join Earth's neighborhood -- under a draft resolution to be formally presented Wednesday to the International Astronomical Union, the arbiter of what is and is not a planet....
***
The proposal could change, however: ...the...nearly 2,500 astronomers from 75 nations meeting in Prague to hammer out a universal definition of a planet will hold two brainstorming sessions before they vote on the resolution next week. But the draft comes from the IAU's executive committee, which only submits recommendations likely to get two-thirds approval from the group.
Besides reaffirming the status of puny Pluto -- whose detractors insist should not be a planet at all -- the new lineup would include 2003 UB313, the farthest-known object in the solar system and nicknamed Xena; Pluto's largest moon, Charon; and the asteroid Ceres, which was a planet in the 1800s before it was demoted.
The panel also proposed a new category of planets called "plutons," referring to Pluto-like objects that reside in the Kuiper Belt, a mysterious, disc-shaped zone beyond Neptune containing thousands of comets and planetary objects. Pluto itself and two of the potential newcomers -- Charon and 2003 UB313 -- would be plutons.
CNN (http://www.cnn.com/2006/TECH/space/08/16/new.planets.ap/index.html)
I wonder if the planet gingle used to memorize the order of the planets can be adapted?
There are 12 major plantes in the solar system...