Re: The Solar System is now down to 8 Planets...

Hi: ....Not so fast! A rising tide of righteous indignation and
opposition is forming...Those interested may wish to inquire at
http://www.plutoisaplanet.org/
Best Regards! ~John

scarletbgonias wrote:
Pluto is no longer classified as a planet. Bummer. Think of all those
natal and progression charts that will need to be redone; not to
mention all those school room models and text books. It's a boom for
astrologers. However, three large celestial objects (Ceres, Charon and
2003 UB313) could be classified next week as planets. Ceres is an
asteroid in the asteroid belt, Charon is Pluto's largest moon and 2003
UB313 is the farthest object in our solar system. Interesting.

Theresa
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http://www.cnn.com/2006/TECH/space/08/24/pluto.ap/index.html

Pluto gets the boot

Pluto no longer a planet, say astronomers

PRAGUE, Czech Republic (AP) -- Leading astronomers declared Thursday
that Pluto is no longer a planet under historic new guidelines that
downsize the solar system from nine planets to eight.

After a tumultuous week of clashing over the essence of the cosmos, the
International Astronomical Union stripped Pluto of the planetary status
it has held since its discovery in 1930.

The new definition of what is -- and isn't -- a planet fills a
centuries-old black hole for scientists who have labored since
Copernicus without one.

Pluto is no stranger to controversy. In fact, it's been dogged by
disputes ever since its discovery. (Watch why some think planet size
doesn't matter -- 3:39)

Discovered by Clyde Tombaugh of Arizona's Lowell Observatory, Pluto was
classified as a planet because scientists initially believed it was the
same size as Earth. It remained one because for years, it was the only
known object in the Kuiper Belt, an enigmatic zone beyond Neptune
that's teeming with comets and other planetary objects.

Pluto got an ego boost in 1978 when it was found to have a moon that
was later named Charon. The Hubble turned up two more, which this past
June were christened Nix and Hydra.

But in the 1990s, more powerful telescopes revealed numerous bodies
similar to Pluto in the neighborhood. New observations also showed that
Pluto's orbit was oblong, sending it soaring well above and beyond the
main plane of the solar system where Earth and the other seven planets
circle the sun.

That prompted some galactic grumbling from astronomers who began openly
attacking Pluto's planethood.

At one point, things looked so bad for Pluto, the international union
said publicly in 1999 that rumors of Pluto's imminent demise were
greatly exaggerated and there were no plans to kick it out of the
cosmic club.

A year later, the Hayden Planetarium at New York's American Museum of
Natural History was accused of snubbing Pluto by excluding it from a
solar system exhibition.

Pluto took another hit after Michael Brown of the California Institute
of Technology discovered 2003 UB313, a slightly larger Kuiper Belt
object. What's the point, some astronomers wondered, in keeping Pluto
as a planet?

Its future brightened earlier this year, when NASA sent the New
Horizons spacecraft to Pluto to get a closer look at the ball of rock
and ice. The Hubble has managed to glimpse only its most prominent
surface features; New Horizons, if all goes well, will arrive in 2015.

.

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