Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Pluto thought to be warming up
ABC News ^ | ABC News

Posted on 07/26/2006 6:53:09 PM PDT by MNJohnnie

Astronomers at the University of Tasmania have found that the solar system's smallest planet is not getting colder as first thought and it probably does not have rings.

Dr John Greenhill has collected observations from last month's event when Pluto passed in front of a bright star, making it easier to study.

French scientists have shared the measurements they took in Tasmania that night, which indicate that the planet is unlikely to have rings.

Dr Greenhill says the results are surprising because they show Pluto is warming up.

"It looks as though the atmosphere has not changed from 2002, which is pretty surprising because we expected the atmosphere would freeze out as the planet moved further away from the Sun," he said.

"But so far, if anything, the atmosphere has gotten even denser."


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Extended News; Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: algore; artbell; climatechange; globalwarming; goofy; kooktokookam; xplanets
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-20 ... 41-6061-8081-100101-108 next last
To: Fred Nerks
"But so far, if anything, the atmosphere has gotten even denser."
I guess stuff that gets colder doesn't get denser over on Pluto. Or maybe this guy just has his head up his butt.
81 posted on 07/26/2006 11:15:59 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (updated my FR profile on Wednesday, June 21, 2006. https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: MNJohnnie
If Bush hadn't caused the Earth's global warming, it wouldn't have broken out all over the solar system. Soon, the entire Milky Way Galaxy will have global warming and it will be all Bush's fault. Already I am fixing to sue Bush for the coffee I spilled in my lap. If it weren't for the global warming, my coffee wouldn't have scalded me so bad that I need a sex change operation. I hope that everyone's coffee scalds lots of people so they can charge the government for their sex change. It's not only global warming, it's global scalding and it all Bush's fault!
82 posted on 07/26/2006 11:49:13 PM PDT by jonrick46
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SunkenCiv

Denser? So, the University of Tasmania finally bought a pair of binoculars? Us Mainlanders take anything the Taswegians say with a huge lump of salt. They don't think like us and they talk funny.

I can prove it. I read the article three times and I'm still none the wiser.


83 posted on 07/27/2006 12:22:13 AM PDT by Fred Nerks (Read the bio THE LIFE OF MUHAMMAD free! Click Fred Nerks for link to my Page.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 81 | View Replies]

To: Lokibob; Drew68
You're both right.

"Bush's Fault" is old.

New response should be "This wouldn't be happening if John Kerry were president".

:-P

84 posted on 07/27/2006 4:57:15 AM PDT by DuncanWaring (The Lord uses the good ones; the bad ones use the Lord.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 49 | View Replies]

To: Joe 6-pack
Must be too many Hummers cruising around Uranus.

There's nothing worse than Klingons on Uranus... with Hummers.

;-)

85 posted on 07/27/2006 5:24:34 AM PDT by Jonah Hex ("How'd you get that scar, mister?" "Nicked myself shaving.")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: MNJohnnie

How could Pluto be warming when the evil, polluting, white, capitalist, industrialists, haven't even sent any rovers up there yet?


86 posted on 07/27/2006 5:32:24 AM PDT by G Larry (Only strict constructionists on the Supreme Court!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: MNJohnnie; All

The thing the scientists are really trying not to comment on....if Pluto and Mars are showing signs of warming up, the common denominator is the sun! If the sun is warming or increasing its out-put, then this would affect Earth as well...

Look for the first "Our Sun is going SuperNova" panic warnings any day now!(sarcasm on)


87 posted on 07/27/2006 6:07:19 AM PDT by mdmathis6 (Proof against evolution:"Man is the only creature that blushes, or needs to" M.Twain)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Wuli; All

Don't forget...we have more accurate and sensitive detection devices then we did 30 years ago and longer...We can detect things we never could before...therefore allowing astronomical increases in our ability to scare our-selves silly!


88 posted on 07/27/2006 6:10:11 AM PDT by mdmathis6 (Proof against evolution:"Man is the only creature that blushes, or needs to" M.Twain)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 59 | View Replies]

To: mdmathis6

That may be true, but many of the differences seen across the solar system have little to do with greater accuracy and are based on differences in data and observations from instruments that have undergone little or no substantial changes in decades.

My point was that it is not the earth and our "man made" causes that is creating "global warming". Our very sun and its solar system are going through a cyclical change, and this cycle, this energy cycle is reflected in changes seen from the sun and all the way out to Pluto.


89 posted on 07/27/2006 12:02:37 PM PDT by Wuli
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 88 | View Replies]

To: knarf

(1) "Warming" does not mean anything in the solar system is getting closer to the sun. This little bit about Pluto is just another minor blip in the general scientific admission that the sun has been heading into a more energetic cycle for some time now.

(2) Thus nothing about this report deals with either an expanding or contracting universe.

(3)Therefore no one was alarmed, so your feint towards the alarmists missed its target - there were none.


90 posted on 07/27/2006 12:08:51 PM PDT by Wuli
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 73 | View Replies]

To: bigLusr

I went to your link and saw this mug.

She might be a nice lady but perhaps she got her start on radio.

91 posted on 07/27/2006 12:10:37 PM PDT by freedomlover (This tagline has been pulled - - - - OK?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 47 | View Replies]

To: MNJohnnie

Pluto warming up......don't tell Goofy.....


92 posted on 07/27/2006 12:19:52 PM PDT by auto power
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Wuli
" .. so your feint towards the alarmists missed its target."

Rats! ..I was so hoping to slip this one in.

Oh well .. next time I'll follow with a < /sarcasm >

93 posted on 07/27/2006 12:21:16 PM PDT by knarf
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 90 | View Replies]

To: RightWhale; Brett66; xrp; gdc314; anymouse; NonZeroSum; jimkress; discostu; The_Victor; ...
The plutoians must have SUV's........


94 posted on 07/27/2006 5:15:40 PM PDT by KevinDavis (http://www.cafepress.com/spacefuture)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: KevinDavis

You have Freepmail from me.


95 posted on 07/27/2006 5:17:13 PM PDT by Howlin (Pres.Bush ought to be ashamed of himself for allowing foreign countries right on our borders!!~~Zook)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 94 | View Replies]

To: csvset
Those poor Plutonians ! Perhaps Al Sharpton will protest.

Representative Jackson-Lee (D-TX) just called in attempting to find the flag that Neil Armdong planted in 1969 on Pluto.

96 posted on 07/28/2006 4:28:23 AM PDT by SERKIT ("Blazing Saddles" explains it all.....)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 16 | View Replies]

To: ICE-FLYER

This is another one of those things that would not have happened if John effing Kerry had been elected president.


97 posted on 07/28/2006 4:32:45 AM PDT by Lonesome in Massachussets (NYT Headline: 'Protocols of the Learned Elders of CBS: Fake But Accurate, Experts Say.')
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: 4rcane

Roughly six hours. Pluto is like 40 AU from the sun. (One AU is the distance from Earth to Sun.) It takes sunlight just about 500 seconds to reach Earth. 500 x ~40 = ~20,000 seconds = ~6 hours.


98 posted on 07/28/2006 4:38:19 AM PDT by Lonesome in Massachussets (NYT Headline: 'Protocols of the Learned Elders of CBS: Fake But Accurate, Experts Say.')
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: MNJohnnie
Pluto has an elliptical orbit and is presently closer to the sun than Neptune. If measurements now were compared to many years ago when it was more distant from the sun, it stands to reason that the current measurements would indicate a warmer Pluto.
99 posted on 07/28/2006 8:21:37 AM PDT by free_at_jsl.com
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: free_at_jsl.com
Nice try to make up a reason to deny reality. The fact is Pluto, Mars and the Moon are all showing raising temperatures. The change in orbit is not significant enough to explain the change in temperature on Pluto. But cling to your failed dogma. This desperation of the Enviro wackos to cling to their religious dogma in the face of science is amusing to watch
100 posted on 07/28/2006 8:55:38 AM PDT by MNJohnnie (Fire Murtha Now! Spread the word. Support Diana Irey. http://www.irey.com/)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 99 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-20 ... 41-6061-8081-100101-108 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson