Phil O'Keefe Posted August 1, 2005 Share Posted August 1, 2005 Quick question... assuming that Pluto counts as a planet, how many known planets are in our solar system? Nine, right? Wrong. Yup, they've discovered a tenth planet. No name for it yet, although one has been submitted to the IAU. You can read more here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Geoff Grace Posted August 1, 2005 Members Share Posted August 1, 2005 I thought they announced a tenth planet months ago, but this appears to be a new development. So what is it that I recall hearing about? ( Edit: ) However, it was not until the team studied the same area of space again in January that its motion was detected. Oh, I see. I must have heard about this part of the news back then. Thanks for the link, Phil. Best, Geoff Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members -=MYK=- Posted August 1, 2005 Members Share Posted August 1, 2005 You got it:) That's my spaceship. Coming to carry me home:o Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Jotown Posted August 1, 2005 Members Share Posted August 1, 2005 Right on! "The new planet TNO is 1.5 times the size of Pluto and it is as far from Pluto as Pluto is from the Sun. It appears to have an orbit of 557.15 years." My info comes from Philip Sedgwick one of the worlds most renowned Galactic astrologers. There is some info at his website at: http://www.philipsedgwick.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Perfessor Posted August 1, 2005 Members Share Posted August 1, 2005 Phaser's on stun! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil O'Keefe Posted August 1, 2005 Author Share Posted August 1, 2005 I was curious about a few things... I met Clyde Tombaugh once when I was a kid, and I have always been facinated by astronomy in general and his discovery of Pluto always interested me... and the way that Percival Lowell predicted its existence... but also in the way that Pluto's mass doesn't account for orbital permutations in Neptune's orbit that generally led to Pluto's discovery... even though now that we have a better handle on the mass of Neptune, we realize the math was wrong all along. IOW, I've wondered for a long time if there was "more" out there, and with the discovery of a few sub-Pluto sized objects out in the Kuiper Belt / Ort Cloud area, I've been wondering if that was all there was or if there might still be a larger mass (relative to Pluto) body out there that had yet to be discovered. It will be interesting to read and research this new discovery a bit... a few other things I'd like to find out: Does it conform to Kepler's Third Law insofar as its orbital position? Is the orbit angled relative to the plane of the other planets like Pluto's orbit is? What is the polar axis orientation? Orbital period? Lots to learn... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members MarkZ Posted August 1, 2005 Members Share Posted August 1, 2005 Let NASA sell naming rights for the planet to fund the space program for another 25 years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil O'Keefe Posted August 1, 2005 Author Share Posted August 1, 2005 Tradition says that the person who discovers it (or in this case, the people) get to suggest names for approval. You can pay to have a star name registered if you want, but I don't think NASA gets any of the money. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Jotown Posted August 1, 2005 Members Share Posted August 1, 2005 Originally posted by Phil O'Keefe his discovery of Pluto always interested me... and the way that Percival Lowell predicted its existence... but also in the way that Pluto's mass doesn't account for orbital permutations in Neptune's orbit that generally led to Pluto's discovery... even though now that we have a better handle on the mass of Neptune, we realize the math was wrong all along. Percival Lowell was not the first to predict the existence of a planet where Pluto was found. Bodes Law (1772) hypothesized the existence of a planet where Pluto was eventually discovered in 1930. British Astrologer/Astronomer Alan Leo actually predicted the discovery of Pluto in 1910 and even predicted that its name would be Pluto! Alan Leo made his prediction on the premise of Bodes Law and his observation that the archetype of Hades/Hell/Pluto was not represented in the planets then known. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members nursers Posted August 1, 2005 Members Share Posted August 1, 2005 $10 says the planet is named Bralalala Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members felix Posted August 1, 2005 Members Share Posted August 1, 2005 Seems like it wasn't that long ago that I read an article saying that Pluto shouldn't be a planet, that it doesn't technically qualify. But it's pretty amazing that the 10th planet has remained undiscovered for this long! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members blackpig Posted August 1, 2005 Members Share Posted August 1, 2005 The reason that this planet (shortly to be named Planet Blackpig) has remained undiscovered for so long is that we couldn't see it. The Hubble telescope can only see stuff that happened a long time ago. The Moon and other stuff was probably in the way as well. I applied my consummate genius to the subject of the Hubble telescope over on the old SSS forum, so there's no need to bore you all with the details again. Most of you, God bless you, would not understand it anyway. It's quite simple if you're a genius like me, though. If you want to look at something in space you point the Hubble at it. You then get an image of what its atmosphere looked like yesterday. If you want to see what it looks like today you'll have to look at it tomorrow. Ah, here comes the doctor... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Mr. Botch Posted August 1, 2005 Members Share Posted August 1, 2005 Originally posted by -=MYK=- That's my spaceship. Coming to carry me home:o Come join us! Here, have some Koolaid! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Mr. Botch Posted August 1, 2005 Members Share Posted August 1, 2005 Originally posted by MarkZ Let NASA sell naming rights for the planet to fund the space program for another 25 years. "Planet WalMart" has a nice ring to it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Hanshananigan Posted August 1, 2005 Members Share Posted August 1, 2005 Are you so sure it's a planet? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members protues9 Posted August 1, 2005 Members Share Posted August 1, 2005 I read it on a news ticker over the weekend and have been waiting until i got to work to look up an article. read. by that logic, there could be thousands of planets in the solar system. Why dont we count the larger asteroids in the asteriod belt as well then? Cause they are already there for all to see and lack the romantic effort of staying up all night sifting through data or peering into a telescope. I'm iffy on the pluto thing. The fact that it's size and that of it's "moon" are the roughly the same and yet vastly smaller than the planets and of semi equal size to the asteroids convience me that they are captured asteroids. Yet being in the same plane of the planets makes a bit of a case for planet status. To me, true planets were created at the same time and share similar charestics since they were created in the same "disc" of proto matter. Hence they rotate the same way, orbit the same direction and have their polar regions orientated more or less the same way (except for Uranus, weirdo. ) Something way off of the solar plane and that doesn't share any of these characteristics shouldn tbe considered a planet to me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members daklander Posted August 1, 2005 Members Share Posted August 1, 2005 Originally posted by Geoff Grace I thought they announced a tenth planet months ago, but this appears to be a new development. So what is it that I recall hearing about? ( Edit: ) I believe they found it in January. Oh, I see. I must have heard about this part of the news back then. Thanks for the link, Phil. Best, Geoff Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members gtrwiz Posted August 1, 2005 Members Share Posted August 1, 2005 Originally posted by -=MYK=- You got it:) That's my spaceship. Coming to carry me home:o The Man wants us to think that Scotty's dead. Scotty didn't die he was beemed up! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members MarkZ Posted August 1, 2005 Members Share Posted August 1, 2005 Originally posted by Phil O'Keefe You can pay to have a star name registered if you want, but I don't think NASA gets any of the money. I knew that, Phil. I'm just looking for a clever angle to get NASA some quick cash for a gross of Liquid Nails to keep stuff from falling off the shuttles during liftoff. McPlanet?iPlanet? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Brittanylips Posted August 1, 2005 Members Share Posted August 1, 2005 Originally posted by Hanshananigan Are you so sure it's a planet? I don't believe there's a consensus on whether it's a planet. And increasingly, there's less consensus on what a planet even is. Neil Tyson's life was changed when the media picked up his declaration that Pluto was more of an iceball than a planet. And this new thing seems every bit the questionable chunk of ice that Pluto is. I think it's the ambiguity about "is it or isn't it" that has kept this story quiet. -Peace, Love, and Brittanylips Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Paully Posted August 1, 2005 Members Share Posted August 1, 2005 Originally posted by nursers $10 says the planet is named Bralalala I heard that "MicroSoftia" is the current high bidder's choice. Care to counterbid? :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Jotown Posted August 1, 2005 Members Share Posted August 1, 2005 Originally posted by Brittanylips I don't believe there's a consensus on whether it's a planet. And increasingly, there's less consensus on what a planet even is.Neil Tyson's life was changed when the media picked up his declaration that Pluto was more of an iceball than a planet. And this new thing seems every bit the questionable chunk of ice that Pluto is.I think it's the ambiguity about "is it or isn't it" that has kept this story quiet.-Peace, Love, and Brittanylips Well in astronomical circles this has not been quiet. As you mentioned, the issues around Pluto have made the astronomical community a bit more diligent about these things. So; is it a planet? A planet orbits the Sun (rather than a moon that orbits a planet) and it must be big enough that its own gravity pulls it together into a sphere - i.e. it must be round. This planet is definitely round and it appears to have a moon as well. It is 1 1/2 times bigger than Pluto so all in the know do believe it is a true planet. There are 10.000 known objects in the solar system that are recognized and numbered. Most are classified as asteroids because they do not meet the criteria above. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Mr. Donovan Posted August 2, 2005 Members Share Posted August 2, 2005 I think the new planet should be called Marklar. And every person, place, or thing on the planet Marklar should be called Marklar. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Brittanylips Posted August 2, 2005 Members Share Posted August 2, 2005 Originally posted by Jotown Well in astronomical circles this has not been quiet. As you mentioned, the issues around Pluto have made the astronomical community a bit more diligent about these things. Well, anyone who reads the newspaper has seen it. But what's interesting is that it's been buried on page 20 rather than heralded on page 1. NASA has a number of ways of publicizing discovery, and is constantly assessing what and how to inform the public. For a variety of reasons, this has not been slated for the type of high-profile publicity one might expect. Originally posted by Jotown So; is it a planet?A planet orbits the Sun (rather than a moon that orbits a planet) and it must be big enough that its own gravity pulls it together into a sphere - i.e. it must be round. This planet is definitely round and it appears to have a moon as well. It is 1 1/2 times bigger than Pluto so all in the know do believe it is a true planet. Actually, I think that's the key to the restrained publicity. It is because all in the know are not agreed on whether it is a planet or not (on the heels of the Pluto controversy) that NASA has not taken a more aggresive stance in driving this into page one news. Ultimately, while it's the planets that get big billing, IMHO, I don't think the moniker is all that important. There's a third-generation sun, and a bunch of things swirling around it, some of which have coalesced into significant blobs of stuff over time. Fortunately, one of those blobs has enough of an atmosphere, heavy elements, and organic compounds to allow the likes of us to briefly exist before we are returned to the cosmic detritus that floats through an otherwise impersonal universe. -Peace, Love, and Brittanylips Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members DC Ross Posted August 2, 2005 Members Share Posted August 2, 2005 So, is Charon considered to be Pluto's moon, or is it the other way around? They revolve around each other, don't they? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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