The Gods Have Spoken!

[3488]

Perhaps this is right after all. Pluto after all is rather small & lightweight. A large KBO, no problem, but full planetary status. I think in hindsight, it is the right thing to do.<br /><br />The KBO is an integral part of the solar system. If an Earth sized KBO is found, that would have planetary status as its size & mass would warrant it. <br /><br />Pluto does not unfortunately.<br /><br />Andrew Brown. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font color="#000080">"I suddenly noticed an anomaly to the left of Io, just off the rim of that world. It was extremely large with respect to the overall size of Io and crescent shaped. It seemed unbelievable that something that big had not been visible before".</font> <em><strong><font color="#000000">Linda Morabito </font></strong><font color="#800000">on discovering that the Jupiter moon Io was volcanically active. Friday 9th March 1979.</font></em></p><p><font size="1" color="#000080">http://www.launchphotography.com/</font><br /><br /><font size="1" color="#000080">http://anthmartian.googlepages.com/thisislandearth</font></p><p><font size="1" color="#000080">http://web.me.com/meridianijournal</font></p> </div>

 

[nexium]

This a duplicate thread with "We may not find ET after all" Perhaps the two threads can be skillfuly combined, and the off topic stuff put in one or more other threads.<br />I suspect the byronic center is square law, making the center of rotaton below Earth's surface and below Pluto's surface. I don't see much justication for regarding the center of rotation as a 3 body problem including SUN, Moon and Earth. How about a 4 body problem figuring in the distributad mass of our galaxy? That would affect Pluto more than Earth, I think. Neil

 

[nexium]

Is this a typo? "(3) All other objects3 except satellites orbiting the Sun shall be referred to collectively as "Small Solar-System Bodies".<br /> I would think everthing that orbits the sun is a satellite of the Sun or there are no satellites that orbit the sun. If I'm wrong, how do we draw the line?<br />Can we correct 3 to read "Objects which are not planets, dwarf planets, suns or satelites of planets shall be called Other Solar System Objects" This leaves Charion in limbo.<br />This also makes every lone electron, quark, nutron, proton and ion in solar orbit an "Other Solar System Body in the same class as Vesta, Juno and Pallus. Ceres is likely the only asteroid that qualifies as a dwarf planet. Neil

 

[MeteorWayne]

That's the right approach to take. It is an opportunity for education, no matter where you fall on the decision.<br />If you believe it's a planet you get to explain why,<br />and if not you can show why it's part of a vast region (mostly) beyond Neptune that we are exploring now for the first time. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font color="#000080"><em><font color="#000000">But the Krell forgot one thing John. Monsters. Monsters from the Id.</font></em> </font></p><p><font color="#000080">I really, really, really, really miss the "first unread post" function</font><font color="#000080"> </font></p> </div>

 

[staz]

This business of a common center of mass needing to be within the larger body is looking for trouble. Eventually someone will discover a system for which the center of mass is sometimes within and sometimes outside the larger body. In fact, given extreme density variations the center of mass might be within the smaller body. <br /><br />I don't even want to think about systems with more than two bodies in orbit about one another.