12 Planets?!
By Christopher MooreMillions of textbooks across the globe currently report the existence of 9 planets. But it appears that the International Astronomical Union has decided that actually defining the term “planet” is a good idea and plan on doing it at their annual general assembly later this month.
The problem? The (as of now) popular proposal of a definition would require editing all of those textbooks. And, of course, has sparked a heated debate. The proposal would add three new planets to our solar system! Here’s the definition:
“A planet is a celestial body that (a) has sufficient mass for its self-gravity to overcome rigid body forces so that it assumes a hydrostatic equilibrium (nearly round) shape, and (b) is in orbit around a star, and is neither a star nor a satellite of a planet.”
So what this means is that any object that orbits the sun and is round is a planet. That’s good news for Pluto. It gets to remain a planet. It’s also good news for the asteroid Ceres, which happens to be round. Ceres, which can be found between Mars and Jupiter, was originally deemed a planet when it was discovered in 1801, but it was re-classified as an asteroid. Maybe now it can regain respect and re-join its bigger brother planets.
MSNBC.com reports about the shake-up in Solar System hierarchy:
The asteroid Ceres, which is round, would be recast as a dwarf planet in the new scheme.
Pluto would remain a planet, and its moon Charon would be reclassified as a planet. Both would be called “plutons,” however, to distinguish them from the eight “classical” planets.
A far-out Pluto-sized object known as 2003 UB313, currently nicknamed Xena, would also be called a pluton.
If the definition gets the nod, the solar system would instantly sprout three new planets. But under the new definition, nearly a dozen other objects may qualify as planets as well. From MSNBC.com:
If astronomers determine that asteroids Pallas, Vesta, and Hygeia are also round, “they will also have to be considered planets,” said Owen Gingerich, a historian and astronomer emeritus at Harvard. The IAU proposal suggests (but does not require) that these be called dwarf planets. Pluto could also be considered a dwarf, which the IAU recommends as an informal label.
That’s a lot of planets.
I’ll leave you with the lyrics to 2 Skinny J’s song “Pluto” after the jump.
With depravity,
I break lots of gravity
Blast past the atmosphere
To the last frontier
I go boldly through space and time
The sky’s the limit,
But the limit isn’t the sky
I break orbit by habit,
I ignite satellites and leave rings round the planets
A flying ace like that beagle,
Nevertheless this alien remains illegal
Cause their discovery don’t cover me
The immigrants been left in the cold
To grow old
And disintegrate
Discriminate
Against the distant and disclaimers,
Cause small minds can’t see past Uranus
When i shun their race
Cause that’s just a phase
And my odyssey runs in 2001 ways
And i can see clearly now like hubbell
Shoved off the shuttle,
Here’s my rebuttal
It’s a planet.Who do you represent?
I represent the smallest planet
A tourney in this journey
Versus those who tried to ban it.If you don’t agree
Go see interplanet janet cause
The sun is star like
Pluto
Is planet.
So lend me all ears
And let me state my case,
About all the types of satellites we must embrace
Cause like parents’
Great-grandparents,
This planet was an immigrant,
To deport it’s an offense.
It’s an upstanding member of the solar system
Abide the laws of earth and make it a victim.
Of proposition
107,
When pluto spawns a moon it will apply to the heavens.
A dandy like judas of a chariot
If you demote this boat
Remote to a goat
It’s like taking et’s custody from elliot,
Support yours
Clearly put cause,
Simply putPluto is a planet. pluto!
Pluto is a planet. pluto!
Pluto is a planet. pluto!
Pluto is a planet. pluto!Do it
For the
Children,
If not for yourself.
Pluto
Is a
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