8 planets it is then

[CoombellKid]

Originally Posted by spacezebra

Totally agree, with your analysis of the situation.

What are they going to do with the "New Horizons" mission - turn around and come home now that Pluto is no longer a "major" planet.

Cheers Petra

Easy they'll just format the CD-Rom wif all our names on it, for those
that did get their name on it. And change the title to Dwarf Planet

Actually I think it is great to finally have Pluto classified, I think it will
always be called pluto until they bread all the die hards out.... Kinda
like the Liberal Party lol, I thought it was even more stupid to vote
on Charon as a planet. But maybe that wasn't explained to me properly

regards,CS sunny days

Rob

[cahullian]

The decision on Pluto was long over due and as far as I'm concerned good riddance to bad rubbish.By time we finish looking at our solar system we will probably find numerous objects as big or bigger than our little friend Pluto.

[Gargoyle_Steve (Steve)]

The whole sticking point in the decision to demote Pluto was made out to be the fact that it has not cleared it's orbital path of other bodies.

So why then does the IAU not likewise demote Jupiter from Planet status when it has 1108 known and cataloged "other bodies" sharing it's orbital path (I don't mean crossing it, I mean sharing it - they travel along the same path!) and preceding Jupiter at the L4 Legrangian point, and another 718 following Jupiter at the L5 point? I refer to the Trojan asteroid group(s).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trojan_asteroid

Not what I would call a "cleared" orbit.

Apparently Neptune also has similar bodies sharing it's orbital path, and Mars may as well.

Are we now down to 5 planets in our solar system after the IAU demotes these 3? I don't think so.

Many members of the IAU simply did not want Pluto to be considered a planet, and in their rush to try and find a reason to justify it's demotion thay have become sloppy, and that's why there is such discord amongst the astronomical community.

[fringe_dweller]

thats a glaring contradiction/complication that the IAU seems to have glossed over - rather strange isnt it Steve

[ving (David)]

Originally Posted by Gargoyle_Steve

Apparently Neptune also has similar bodies sharing it's orbital path,

umm... including pluto which crosses over neptunes path.

[Volans]

The confusion is still there amongst the public and the school kids. In fact it has brought to my attention the general lack of understanding in the upper school level (grade 7+) of gravity. The whole idea of something having enough gravity to haul itself into a sphereoid (hydrostatic equilibrium) is quite foreign to these students - but that is another matter.

It seems that a lot of children identify quite strongly with Pluto and they are feeling very put out because it has been seen to now be excluded from the Solar System. I can tell them 'till I'm blue in the face that it is still part of the Solar System, it's still called Pluto, it's still the same size it was 2 months ago etc. etc. Not good enough apparently.

One child thought Pluto had escaped the Solar System, another asked "What can we do to save Pluto?" (I replied with "Why does it need to be saved?"), yet another child insisted there were 12 planets in the Solar System and alot of children ask "What happened to the three new planets they found?".

Two things are going on here. The first is the atrocious apathetic manner in which the various media have handled this story. When there was the prospect of 12 planets they were all on to it but when it dropped to 8.... it was buried close to the story about Gilbert the Goldfish saves family from armed intruder (I'll never annoy fish again!). The second thing is the wording of the IAU resolutions. Basically it is poorly worded and has resulted in bad science.

Science is supposed to clarify not cause confusion.

Peter.

[robagar]

just to cap off how daft that decision is, Earth hasn't cleared it's orbit either - there are at least four corkscrew asteroids whizzing round with us...