Re: Overall disappointing...

On Fri, 25 Aug 2006 21:58:18 +0200, N. Foldager
<nfoldager-takethisaway@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

Kevin Heider:

The discovery of Pluto led to many questions about the planet. One of
the most puzzling was the fact that Lowell had predicted that Planet X
would have a mass 6.6 times that of Earth. The tiny dot that was
actually discovered could not possibly be that big, unless it was
extraordinarily dark. Estimates of its diameter, for example, ranged
from 6,000 to 14,000 kilometers. After the discovery of Charon in
1978, which permitted determination of the mass through a few simple
calculations, the mass of the Pluto system was determined to be about
500 times smaller than that of the Earth.

Labeling Pluto as a Planet was a huge long-term mistake and I am glad
that it is now corrected. We don't want a Solar System were 783 Pluto
like objects are considered on the same scale as the Classic 8
Planets.

Part of Sciene is accepting change. The new definition is not perfect
but it is a step in the modern direction.

The resulting cathegories are OK for the moment.

But this criterion "has / has not cleared the neighbourhood around
its orbit" is much two vague and difficult to determine.

Be careful what you ask for. :-) Yes, perhaps the IAU over
simplified the explanation.

But here is a professional 22 page version of the concept:
http://arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0608359

-- Kevin Heider

West Coast Swing Photos at:
http://www.pbase.com/kheider
.

Relevant Pages

  • Project Genesis
    ... Nitrogen is the most abundant gas in the earth ... We compare the mass of the earth to the mass of the sun, ... Let the distance between them be r. ... n is the planet number and r is its distance from the sun. ...
    (sci.bio.evolution)
  • Project Genesis Revised
    ... Nitrogen is the most abundant gas in the earth ... We compare the mass of the earth to the mass of the sun, ... Let the distance between them be r. ... n is the planet number and r is its distance from the sun. ...
    (sci.bio.evolution)
  • Re: What happens here, anyway?
    ... with Earth Growth. ... force given the parameters such as the mass of the planet. ... I'm not arguing against the existence of gravity. ...
    (sci.geo.geology)
  • Re: What happens here, anyway?
    ... with Earth Growth. ... force given the parameters such as the mass of the planet. ... I'm not arguing against the existence of gravity. ...
    (sci.geo.geology)
  • Re: Strength of Materials
    ... orbit around the Sun, has sufficient mass for its self-gravity to ... "If Neptune had cleared its zone, Pluto wouldn't be there," he added. ... content to keep Pluto as a planet, and, when you discover something new ...
    (sci.physics)