Nasa announces press conference on 'discovery beyond our solar system'

[EC]

Pure synchronicity again. I caught up on this thread, clicked to another tab and there was the article headline.

[Joe Wooten]

Pluto is (possibly) becoming a planet again.

 

Nah! Pluto is just an oversized asteroid like Ceres.

[Ghost Bear]

Nah! Pluto is just an oversized asteroid like Ceres.

Pluto is the Solar System's Cousin Oliver.

[Cripplecreek]

Pluto's moon Charon is bigger than Ceres.

Ceres has a diameter of 590 miles and Charon has a diameter of 753 miles

[Joe Wooten]

Pluto's moon Charon is bigger than Ceres.

Ceres has a diameter of 590 miles and Charon has a diameter of 753 miles

Like I said, oversized asteroids.....

[Cripplecreek]

Like I said, oversized asteroids.....

I would classify Pluto different than Ceres based on make up (Icy vs Rocky) and the fact that Pluto is apparently geologically active to some extent.

[thackney]

Pluto is (possibly) becoming a planet again.

 

If they use that definition:

“a sub-stellar mass body that has never undergone nuclear fusion and that has sufficient self-gravitation to assume a spheroidal shape adequately described by a triaxial ellipsoid regardless of its orbital parameters.”

http://gizmodo.com/nasa-scientists-have-a-plan-to-make-pluto-a-planet-agai-1792554863

They are going to make more than just Pluto a planet.  13 or more?

http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/dwarf

Pluto, Ceres, Eris, Haumea...

[Smokin Joe]

I can't wait!!!!

How exciting. Although I hate that number nine..,

It makes me think of that awful song by The Beatles.

I think of this one--it's more upbeat, and a fun song.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7rXhXLsNJL8

[Cripplecreek]

If they use that definition:

“a sub-stellar mass body that has never undergone nuclear fusion and that has sufficient self-gravitation to assume a spheroidal shape adequately described by a triaxial ellipsoid regardless of its orbital parameters.”

http://gizmodo.com/nasa-scientists-have-a-plan-to-make-pluto-a-planet-agai-1792554863

They are going to make more than just Pluto a planet.  13 or more?

http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/dwarf

Pluto, Ceres, Eris, Haumea...

Personally I would just make Pluto and Ceres planets based on your criteria and on their relatively circular orbits. Granted Pluto does have the most elliptical orbit outside the plane of the solar system but its not a 5 or 10 thousand year orbit.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   

Its all semantics anyway. Science still debates what is and isn't the edge of our solar system.

[Doug Loss]

Here's the official press release:

https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-to-host-news-conference-on-discovery-beyond-our-solar-system

I was on a conference call last night to work on the upcoming Tennessee Valley Interstellar Workshop, and Jim Benford told us that he knows what this is all about but he wasn't permitted to tell us.  Whether that's true or not (and it probably is), no amount of wheedling and whining got him to talk. 

[Ghost Bear]

If they use that definition:

“a sub-stellar mass body that has never undergone nuclear fusion and that has sufficient self-gravitation to assume a spheroidal shape adequately described by a triaxial ellipsoid regardless of its orbital parameters.”

http://gizmodo.com/nasa-scientists-have-a-plan-to-make-pluto-a-planet-agai-1792554863

They are going to make more than just Pluto a planet.  13 or more?

http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/dwarf

Pluto, Ceres, Eris, Haumea...

Actually, using the quoted definition, especially the part "... regardless of its orbital parameters." would make all of the major moons in the Solar System into planets.   

Personally, I don't mind having more than a dozen planets. But I do think the definition should include a primary orbit around the Sun and not another body, such as a major planet.

[Joe Wooten]

I would classify Pluto different than Ceres based on make up (Icy vs Rocky) and the fact that Pluto is apparently geologically active to some extent.

So is Ceres, take a look at the photos of the ice volcanoes the Dawn probe took as it orbits Ceres.....

[Joe Wooten]

Here's the official press release:

https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-to-host-news-conference-on-discovery-beyond-our-solar-system

I was on a conference call last night to work on the upcoming Tennessee Valley Interstellar Workshop, and Jim Benford told us that he knows what this is all about but he wasn't permitted to tell us.  Whether that's true or not (and it probably is), no amount of wheedling and whining got him to talk. 

And since it was a telecom, you could not drag him to a bar and ply him with enough likker to pry the story out..........

[Doug Loss]

And since it was a telecom, you could not drag him to a bar and ply him with enough likker to pry the story out..........

Besides, he was in CA and I (and a goodly portion of the rest of us) was in TN.  But all shall be revealed shortly, I'm promised. :)

[Free Vulcan]

The problem with Pluto is that Eris is even larger, so I'm content with keeping Pluto as a subplanet.