A whole new world?
- From: "An Mac Tíre Bán; (Whitewolf)" <rayh(removespamblocker>@iol.ie>
- Date: Thu, 02 Feb 2006 15:05:48 GMT
A recently discovered "planet" beyond the orbit of Pluto has been discovered...
This new object is even bigger then Pluto...
So now an argument is raging amongst the scientific community as to whether to
classify this new object a planet. Whether do downgrade Pluto so it's not
classified a planet. Or whether to just add a new roman/greek name to the new
planet and add it officially to the list of planets orbiting our sun.
Personally, I'm infavour of keeping Pluto a planet and simply declaring the new
object a planet and giving it a name....
And that gets me thinking... Since it's so far away, and obviously freezing, we
should call it Planet Vulcan! Naw? What name would you suggest?
Wouldn't it be cool if there was a worldwide poll conducted to find out what
name the new planet should be given? I think and hope they might do this. For
many reasons, but for one that it will reignite the interests of people in
things beyond the mundane earth problems, etc...
What say you?
Ray
The full report from the BBC follows:
Distant world tops Pluto for size
By Jonathan Amos
BBC News science reporter
An icy, rocky world reported last year to be orbiting the Sun in the distant
reaches of the Solar System really is bigger than Pluto, scientists say.
New observations of the object, which goes by the designation 2003 UB313, show
it to have a diameter of some 3,000km - about 700km more than Pluto.
The measurement was undertaken by a German team using a telescope in Spain, and
is published in the journal Nature.
It is likely to bolster claims for the body to be given planet status.
On the other hand, it will also give support to those who believe Pluto has an
inflated position and should be downgraded to a more minor classification.
Perhaps we should just sit back and relax and see what else is
discovered out there in the near future
Prof Iwan Williams, Queen Mary University of London
"I'm easy on this," said the Nature paper's lead author, Professor Frank
Bertoldi, from the University of Bonn and the Max-Planck-Institute for
Radioastronomy.
"I would not want to demote Pluto for historical and cultural reasons - you'd
upset the schoolchildren. So, it seems only fair to call objects larger than
Pluto planets as well. I think we could cope," he told the BBC News website.
Icy belt
Like Pluto, 2003 UB313 orbits beyond Neptune in a region known as the Kuiper
Belt.
Scientists think there are probably many tens of thousands of freezing bodies in
this ring of debris left over from the formation of the Solar System.
But 2003 UB313 is the first to be identified with a girth that exceeds Pluto's.
The German team looked at the far-off world using the 30m Iram (Institut de
RadioAstronomie Millimetrique) telescope at Pico Veleta in the Sierra Nevada
mountains.
Using a standard astronomical approach, the group was able to arrive at a figure
for the diameter by measuring the heat radiated by the object and combining this
with information about the amount of sunlight reflected off its surface.
The calculation of 3,000km has some uncertainty attached to it - which means the
world could be up to 300km smaller or bigger - but either way, it still
represents the largest object found in the Solar System since Neptune in 1846.
August meeting
Michael Brown, the California Institute of Technology astronomer who announced
2003 UB313's discovery with colleagues last July, has nicknamed the object Xena
and is pressing for it to be given full planet status.
If granted such a classification, the object would assume a name from Greek or
Roman mythology.
2003 UB313 (XENA)
First seen in 2003 but finally recognised in 2005
Highly elongated orbit around Sun lasting 558 years
Currently positioned some 14.5 billion km from Earth
Has extremely frigid surface temperature of -250C
May have thin atmosphere when closest to Sun
Has moon with unofficial 'codename' of Gabrielle
Names come from US TV series, Xena: Warrior Princess
But the request has led to heated discussions within the science of astronomy
which is now facing up to the prospect of even more objects of similar size
being discovered in the Kuiper Belt in the next few years. Can they all be
classed as planets?
"Theories for the formation of our Solar System imply there could be objects as
big as Mars out there," commented Professor Alan Fitzsimmons, from Queen's
University Belfast.
"We knew the day would come when something at least as large as Pluto, if not
bigger, would be discovered."
And on the matter of whether it should be called a planet: "It's very difficult;
my head scientifically pulls one way and my heart another. I just don't know."
The discipline's official nomenclature duties rest with the International
Astronomical Union (IAU), which will discuss the classification of planets at
its General Assembly in August.
'Relax' option
It will consider an options report drawn up by a working group chaired by
Professor Iwan Williams, from Queen Mary University of London.
"You could have a distinction which says, 'everything bigger than Pluto is a
planet', but then you are in danger of finding four or five of these objects in
the next few years and you end up asking yourself, 'did we really mean to create
15 planets?'"
Professor Williams conceded it would be extremely hard to arrive at a definition
for a planet that satisfied everyone.
It was possible, he added, that the IAU could simply defer any decisions until
it became clearer just how many objects might be candidates for planet
classification.
"Perhaps we should just sit back and relax and see what else is discovered out
there in the near future."
Mike Brown's team is expected to come forward soon with its own measurement of
the diameter of 2003 UB313 using data from the Hubble Space Telescope.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/sci/tech/4667100.stm
--
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May those who love us love us - And those who don't love us
May God turn their hearts - And if He doesn't turn their hearts,
May He turn their ankles - So we'll know them by their limping.
- Irish Prayer
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Website: http://www.eirefirst.com - Email: rayh(removeSPAM)@iol.ie
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