10 Planets? Why Not 11?

NY Times ^ | August 23, 2005 | KENNETH CHANG

[neverdem]

Thank's for forcing me to look it up. Bode's law

[Graymatter]

Planet or not planet? I think the category "planet," like Bode's Law, is good as far as it goes, and has gone as far as it's going to go. Like Bode's Law, it's neat, but reality is messy, and sooner or later we discover that.
So, let's not call anything-else-we-find-past-Pluto a planet.
(Unless of course it's big, has moons, and a tidy orbit on the same plane as everybody else.)
I say if it causes silly arguments, it's NOT a planet.

[Graymatter]

2005FY9 is Easter Bunny? I thought that was 2004JFnK.

[fat city]

Drop it, Dr. Brown- we've already got too many planets.

[Logophile]

The failure of NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope to see infrared light indicated a diameter of less than 2000 miles. But the telescope was mistakenly pointed in the wrong direction.

If the telescope was pointed in the wrong direction, the lack of infrared light would not be an indication of anything.

[RightWhale]

Mercury should be a moon of Venus. Once this is done the plan will be complete to perfection as intended.

[RightWhale]

Pluto was obviously placed there to occupy our limited intellects so we won't have leisure time to seriously challenge the greater perfection.

[Izzy Dunne]

Mercury should be a moon of Venus. Once this is done the plan will be complete to perfection as intended.

Uhhhh, OK.
The fact that Mercury does NOT revolve around Venus is immaterial?
I would think one of the first requirements of a planet's moon is that it revolve around the parent planet.

Just whose "plan" are you referring to, anyway?

[RightWhale]

Either that, or the principle of Dadaism should be brought out of the attic, dusted off, and launched into the universe at large.

[Prime Choice]

Pluto was obviously placed there to occupy our limited intellects

That would be redundant. The female bosom accomplished that goal.

Heck, if 1/10th of 1% of the attention given to women's breasts were given to the space program, we'd have had hot dog stands on Mars 20 years ago.

[RightWhale]

That's true. I would bet the reason we are concerned at all with outer space is what Veblen said about the leisure class.

[FairOpinion]

"This Is Your Brain on Chocolate"

Yummy.

I'll post it as a separate thread, if you don't mind. I love chocolate threads. :)

[No2much3]

It is nice to see that what the engineers and astrophysicists built and launched back in the 1970's are still proving that science can do something right.

On a different topic I remember my father who was in the business back then referred to the plans for the space shuttle as the *flying brick*. He already had told me in the mid 70's that the shuttle would have major problems with the thermal tiles so it does not surprise me that Columbia went down. Unfortunately people had to die for the vanity of others.

[Antoninus]

Heck, if 1/10th of 1% of the attention given to women's breasts were given to the space program, we'd have had hot dog stands on Mars 20 years ago.

Exactly. The solution, therefore, is to maidenform the surface of Mars. The rest will simply fall into place from there.

[Bratch]

"I would change the solar system models at this point. Especially with Xena...."

[bobdsmith]

This is just more men of science speculating about the sky with their ungodly viewing tubes. More than 9 planets? Total speculation. I remember real science with steam and pistons. Not this modern fantasy romance with the sky.

[NicknamedBob]

"Mercury should be a moon of Venus."

I have no plans to place Mercury in orbit around Venus. Any Terraforming plans for either will have to deal with their current orbits.

[Xenalyte]

Wow! How cool is THAT? I get a whole planet!

Now the trick is getting there.

[SunkenCiv]

---

· X-Planets ping list · join · view topics · view or post blog · bookmark ·

---