..Earth and Pluto
Posted on 09/14/2006 8:11:36 PM PDT by kingattax
Pluto has been given a new name to reflect its new status as a dwarf planet.
On Sept. 7, the former 9th planet was assigned the asteroid number 134340 by the Minor Planet Center (MPC), the official organization responsible for collecting data about asteroids and comets in our solar system.
The move reinforces the International Astronomical Union's (IAU) recent decision to strip Pluto of its planethood and places it in the same category as other small solar-system bodies with accurately known orbits.
Pluto's companion satellites, Charon, Nix and Hydra are considered part of the same system and will not be assigned separate asteroid numbers, said MPC director emeritus Brian Marsden. Instead, they will be called 134340 I, II and III, respectively.
There are currently 136,563 asteroid objects recognized by the MPC; 2,224 new objects were added last week, of which Pluto was the first.
Other notable objects to receive asteroid numbers included 2003 UB313, also known as "Xena," and the recently discovered Kuiper Belt objects 2003 EL61 and 2005 FY9. Their asteroid numbers are 136199, 136108 and 136472, respectively.
The MPC also issued a separate announcement stating that the assignment of permanent asteroid numbers to Pluto and other large objects located beyond the orbit of Neptune "does not preclude their having dual designations in possible separate catalogues of such bodies."
Marsden explained that the cryptic wording refers to the future possibility of creating a separate astronomical catalogue specific to dwarf planets. There might even be more than one catalogue created, he said.
The recent IAU decision implies "that there would be two catalogues of dwarf planets-one for just the trans-Neptunian Pluto type and the other for objects like Ceres, which has also been deemed a dwarf planet," Marsden told SPACE.com. "That's why that statement was put there, to reassure people who think there would be other catalogues that this numbering of Pluto doesn't preclude that."
Pluto's asteroid number was first reported today on the website of Sky and Telescope magazine.
..Earth and Pluto
Pluto's a planet. Cultural entrenchment and historical significance means more than an arbitrary vote by a few hundred equation solvers in Europe.
That's just plain discrimination against radius-challenged heavenly bodies. And the whole assignment of a number! Start with discriminated minority planets, and then the enemies of the administration, and then the rest of us, and Bush's fascist control will be complete!
/sarc
I agree … Bush’s fault!
Sad. Just sad.
"I am not a number! I am a free planet!!"
I will be fasting between 12:00-12:10a.m. tonight. Somebody else will have to pick up the rolling fast at 12:10a.m. We'll just do this on the honor system so please do not claim you are actually hungry during your ten minute fast while secretly scarfing Chubby Hubby.
You are number four.
Ouch. That's cold.
Say what?
I got 12:10 to 12:15. After that...it's Rocky Road.
And this determination helps scientists to procreate how?
LOL! And Halliburton! Don't leave out Halliburton.
They probably make a few phone calls and pulled a few strings to have Pluto down graded from a planet to a whatever. (All with the help of the Bush administration, natch.)
Halliburton already registered a deed for the all the property and oil under that number *before* it was assigned.
Somehow this seems very unfair. Pluto was discovered in 1930. If it had been assigned its number in 1930, it would have gotten a much better number. 134340? An ex-planet deserves more respect.
12:10 - 12:20. I am in for plutos sake. Rolling hungerstrike needs to be picked up.
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