Eight Planets

Wildcat

Retired Moderator
I found this interesting cause I love Astronomy. The International Astronomical Union demoted Pluto's planetary status today to that of a dwarf planet. It was demoted because they have discovered many Pluto-like objects on the outskirts of the solar system so they no longer consider it unique.

So now there are only eight planets in our solar system, officially. Along with demoting Pluto, they made two additional dwarf planets--Ceres (the largest Asteroid), and 2003 UB313 (an object beyond Pluto's orbit that's sometimes called Sedna.) There's also been talk of adding Pluto's moon, Charon to the list of dwarf planets. I think it's a little silly to demote Pluto because it's been considered a planet for over 70 years, but I guess they have a point in it not being unique. I guess they'll have to rewrite all the science textbooks now. :D
 

tony_montana

Semper Fidelis
I love space stuff too, and funny enough, Im taking Astronomy right now in school. :)
I learned about this in Astronomy class, and I thought it was really stupid. Pluto has been a planet for 76 years now, and then all of a sudden they decide to redifine the definition of a planet, and Pluto now does not match up. It's dumb.:mad:
Don't know about you guys, but Ill continue to refer to Pluto as our ninth planet, regardless of what these astronomers say.:)
 

yardgames

Retired Administrator
That would make you wrong. :D I think that, in addition to redefining the word planet, they added a new term, dwarf planet, to describe items between asteroids and actual planets. And Pluto's in that category because there's tons of other pieces of crap out there just like it. That thing that they thought was our tenth planet is actually another dwarf planet. Everyone's just upset because Pluto was the most popular planet--why? :D And apparently, since it's been discovered, it's only made it 1/3 of the way around the sun.
 

Murph

New member
How, oh how, I would love my school NOT to re-write the textbooks and for me to use it as a defence EVERY time I mess up in Science.
 

Murph

New member
That would involve a lot of studying, which, don't get me wrong, I do, but doesn't it just feel better to correct a teacher?

My dad's a teacher, so it feels twice as good in some cases :D
 

NeCoHo

Retired Mod
The Ancient Sumerians defined our solar system as having 12 planets, including the sun, and Earth's moon, so 10 actual "planets" in the new definition. The Sumerians learned long ago all about the solar system, but florished before the Egyptians, the first "modern" ancient civilization. (oxymoron there) The Sumerian creation story explains the asteriod belt, and why there are ten planets. Once, between Jupiter and Mars, a planet called Tiamut existed, blah...blah...blah.... then a planet with a 3600 year orbit vertically retrograde (in the sense of the solar plane, since there is no such thing as up or down is space) collided with Tiamut (that planet which was called Nibiru) Tiamut shattered, and from it, Luna (our moon), and the asteriod belt were formed, but also a rock, which would become our Earth in it's current orbit. (Earth at the time, called Kia[pronounded Gia, from which we get the Greek Geos, and modern geology, geography, the name George, ect.])

I'll end here, so I don't start rambling.
 

tony_montana

Semper Fidelis
You rambled from the beginning.:D
Lol, still, that's some interesting information you put. Anyways, Im still calling Pluto a planet, much to the dismay of scientists everywhere.:D
 

Wildcat

Retired Moderator
That's impressive that the ancient sumerians figured all that out, but that's not how it happned, according to scientist. :D The asteroid belt didn't form from planets colliding. It's basically a planet that never formed. At one time, the entire solar system was just a bunch of space crap like the asteroid belt, then plantesimals (mini-planets) collided and stuck together, which formed the planets that we have today. Some Asteroids have stuck together (accreted) and grown larger, but Jupiter's huge mass has prevented them from ever getting planet-sized.

The moon is likely the result of an asteroid collision with earth that blasted up rocks and and other debris. The rocks circled the Earth due to gravitational pull until they eventually stuck together and formed the moon (just like how the planets formed.) Either that, or it's a piece of space junk that got pulled into Earth's orbit. Theories vary.
 

NeCoHo

Retired Mod
Wildcat said:
That's impressive that the ancient sumerians figured all that out, but that's not how it happned, according to scientist. :D The asteroid belt didn't form from planets colliding. It's basically a planet that never formed. At one time, the entire solar system was just a bunch of space crap like the asteroid belt, then plantesimals (mini-planets) collided and stuck together, which formed the planets that we have today. Some Asteroids have stuck together (accreted) and grown larger, but Jupiter's huge mass has prevented them from ever getting planet-sized.

The moon is likely the result of an asteroid collision with earth that blasted up rocks and and other debris. The rocks circled the Earth due to gravitational pull until they eventually stuck together and formed the moon (just like how the planets formed.) Either that, or it's a piece of space junk that got pulled into Earth's orbit. Theories vary.

Thank you Madam Obvious... lol. :D

One thing to think about, how did the Sumerian culture just pop out of nowhere?
 
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Deleted member 1693

Guest
They had to have come from somewhere. :lol:

I remember most of my friends made a big fuss about the demotion and made all of these signs and T-shirts saying "PLUTO IS A PLANET". I didn't get the point of that at all, but some people feel they have to stand for something!
 

Doctor person

New member
It's great to here so many people are interested in Astronomy. I am an amatuer astronomer myself, and enjoy astrophotography (taking pictures of objects in the sky through a telescope.

If any of you are interested, feel free to look at my website. I took all of those images myself, and yes, that is my telescope. If you have any questions about astronomy, you can PM me throught the forums or e-mail me.
 
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Deleted member 1693

Guest
Wow... That's an awesome telescope and those are awesome pictures...

I'm glad you have such a cool hobby!
 
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