Seriously thoughtful Richard Branson Buys Pluto

[HarryT]

Richard Branson has bought Pluto and intends to have it reinstated as a planet.

Sir Richard Branson is setting his sights on the final frontier in his latest business venture announced today.

In a universal first Sir Richard has revealed that he has bought the former planet of Pluto for an undisclosed sum.

As a firm supporter of small businesses Sir Richard is hoping to set an example for struggling entrepreneurs facing setbacks by having Pluto reinstated as an official planet, after its declassification by the International Astronomical Union in 1996.
...

Full story at:

http://www.virgin.com/travel/news/br...tes-as-planet/

[Billi]

Hm, April, April??

[dreams]

Originally Posted by Billi

Hm, April, April??

[wannabee]

Pluto walks on all fours and GOOFY doesn't?

[laurele]

Better Branson than the IAU. Pluto is a planet, always was, always will be. Please do not blindly accept the controversial demotion of Pluto, which was done by only four percent of the International Astronomical Union, most of whom are not planetary scientists. Their decision was immediately opposed in a formal petition by hundreds of professional astronomers led by Dr. Alan Stern, Principal Investigator of NASA’s New Horizons mission to Pluto. Stern and like-minded scientists favor a broader planet definition that includes any non-self-luminous spheroidal body in orbit around a star. The spherical part is important because objects become spherical when they attain a state known as hydrostatic equilibrium, meaning they are large enough for their own gravity to pull them into a round shape. This is a characteristic of planets and not of shapeless asteroids and Kuiper Belt Objects. Pluto meets this criterion and is therefore a planet.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by laurele

Better Branson than the IAU. Pluto is a planet, always was, always will be. Please do not blindly accept the controversial demotion of Pluto, which was done by only four percent of the International Astronomical Union, most of whom are not planetary scientists. Their decision was immediately opposed in a formal petition by hundreds of professional astronomers led by Dr. Alan Stern, Principal Investigator of NASA’s New Horizons mission to Pluto. Stern and like-minded scientists favor a broader planet definition that includes any non-self-luminous spheroidal body in orbit around a star. The spherical part is important because objects become spherical when they attain a state known as hydrostatic equilibrium, meaning they are large enough for their own gravity to pull them into a round shape. This is a characteristic of planets and not of shapeless asteroids and Kuiper Belt Objects. Pluto meets this criterion and is therefore a planet.

The problem with this approach is that we now know that Pluto is merely one (large) member of the "Kuiper Belt" - the asteroid belt beyond the orbit of Neptune. More than 1000 Kuiper Belt objects have currently been discovered, of which the most massive now known is not Pluto, but the object designated 163199 Eris, which is 27% more massive than Pluto and is estimated to have a diameter of around 2400km. Logically, if you call Pluto a planet, you have to call Eris one too. Do you want to do that?

The term "dwarf planet" has now been adopted by the IAU for non-satellite objects which are massive enough to have become spherical, but not massive enough to have cleared other objects out of their vicinity. Dwarf planets include the Kuiper Belt objects Pluto, Eris, Haumea, and Makemake, plus of course Ceres. It's estimated that there may well be as many as 200 dwarf planets in the solar system.

[Verencat]

Originally Posted by Billi

Hm, April, April??

Right! Ouf! I got scared for a second, in a very where-is-this-world-going-there-is-no-way-I'll-have-kids-now-because-they-would-be-doomed kind of way. Thanks for stating the obvious for me!

[Steven Lyle Jordan]

Originally Posted by HarryT

The problem with this approach is that we now know that Pluto is merely one (large) member of the "Kuiper Belt" - the asteroid belt beyond the orbit of Neptune. More than 1000 Kuiper Belt objects have currently been discovered, of which the most massive now known is not Pluto, but the object designated 163199 Eris, which is 27% more massive than Pluto and is estimated to have a diameter of around 2400km. Logically, if you call Pluto a planet, you have to call Eris one too. Do you want to do that?

Yay! We have an even ten planets!!

[laurele]

Originally Posted by HarryT

The problem with this approach is that we now know that Pluto is merely one (large) member of the "Kuiper Belt" - the asteroid belt beyond the orbit of Neptune. More than 1000 Kuiper Belt objects have currently been discovered, of which the most massive now known is not Pluto, but the object designated 163199 Eris, which is 27% more massive than Pluto and is estimated to have a diameter of around 2400km. Logically, if you call Pluto a planet, you have to call Eris one too. Do you want to do that?

The term "dwarf planet" has now been adopted by the IAU for non-satellite objects which are massive enough to have become spherical, but not massive enough to have cleared other objects out of their vicinity. Dwarf planets include the Kuiper Belt objects Pluto, Eris, Haumea, and Makemake, plus of course Ceres. It's estimated that there may well be as many as 200 dwarf planets in the solar system.

Yes, I do count Eris as a planet, as well as Ceres, Haumea, Makemake, and probably Sedna. Pluto and Eris are not just two more members of the Kuiper Belt. They are both planets and Kuiper Belt Objects. The first tells us what they are; the second tells us where they are. The overwhelming majority of Kuiper Belt Objects are tiny, icy bodies nowhere near large enough to be rounded by their own gravity. Also, while Eris is more massive than Pluto, recent data from Eris' occulting a star in November 2010 shows that Pluto is actually larger in diameter, meaning Pluto is actually the ninth largest object direcly orbiting the Sun. Additionally, Pluto is estimated to be 70-75 percent rock, and Eris, given its higher mass, may be even more rocky.

My difference with the IAU definition, which was adopted by only four percent of its members (424 people) and opposed by an equal number of professional astronomers in a formal petition, is that I--like others who support the geophysical planet definition--see dwarf planets as a subclass of planets rather than as non-planets. There is no reason an object should have to clear its orbit to be considered a planet. In fact, the initial intent of Alan Stern, who coined the term dwarf planet, was to designate a third class of planets in addition to terrestrials and jovians, small planets large enough to be rounded by their own gravity but not large enough to gravitationally dominate their orbits. This would put the term dwarf planet in line with other uses of dwarf in astronomy, as dwarf stars are a subclass of stars, and dwarf galaxies are a subclass of galaxies.

If our solar system has 200 or more planets due to the large number of dwarf planets, what is wrong with that? No one tries to limit the number of Jupiter's moons to four because kids can't memorize 63. We don't ask kids to memorize all the rivers and mountains on Earth, and we don't need to ask them to memorize a list of planets either. It's more important that they understand the different kinds of planets and their characteristics. Trying to limit the number of solar system planets just so we have a number that is convenient is hardly a scientific argument.

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Full story at:

http://www.virgin.com/travel/news/br...tes-as-planet/

You'd think he'd buy Virgo?

[Bilbo1967]

Originally Posted by kennyc

You'd think he'd buy Virgo?

Richard Branson runs the Virgin empire. We had this question at a quiz a few weeks ago:

What is the only product or service made by Virgin which hasn't used the Virgin name?

Answer:

Spoiler:

They made condoms for a while and called them 'Mates' Virgin is not a good name for condoms!

[wannabee]

Originally Posted by laurele

I--like others who support the geophysical planet definition--see dwarf planets as a subclass of planets rather than as non-planets.

Hi Laurele

Thank you for your take on the controversy about the way planets are classed (or not).

Also hi!

But please. . . . an answer to a question I have wondered all my life. What is the name of the Man-in-the moon?

[ardeegee]

Originally Posted by HarryT

The term "dwarf planet" has now been adopted by the IAU for non-satellite objects which are massive enough to have become spherical, but not massive enough to have cleared other objects out of their vicinity. Dwarf planets include the Kuiper Belt objects Pluto, Eris, Haumea, and Makemake, plus of course Ceres. It's estimated that there may well be as many as 200 dwarf planets in the solar system.

Harry, don't waste your time. This woman's entire life revolves around an obsession with calling Pluto a planet. For years now, at any news item or blog entry that mentions Pluto no longer being a planet, she has shown up to give long rants about it. She literally started back to college for a degree in Astronomy just so that she can try to overturn the IAU's decision. It is very sad, really.

http://www.google.com/search?num=100...aqi=&aql=f&oq=

She is a well known running joke, as you can see in the comments in this one example (out of probably many similar mentions)

http://www.daemonsbooks.com/2010/12/...by-mike-brown/

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by ardeegee

Harry, don't waste your time. This woman's entire life revolves around an obsession with calling Pluto a planet. For years now, at any news item or blog entry that mentions Pluto no longer being a planet, she has shown up to give long rants about it. She literally started back to college for a degree in Astronomy just so that she can try to overturn the IAU's decision. It is very sad, really.

http://www.google.com/search?num=100...aqi=&aql=f&oq=

She is a well known running joke, as you can see in the comments in this one example (out of probably many similar mentions)

http://www.daemonsbooks.com/2010/12/...by-mike-brown/

Interesting, guess everyone needs a hobby, eh?

[ardeegee]

Originally Posted by kennyc

Interesting, guess everyone needs a hobby, eh?

More like needs lithium.

An example-- read this mild, light interview:

http://www.space.com/9563-man-killed...ike-brown.html

Then, Laurel's hate-filled, frothing rant over it:

http://laurele.livejournal.com/22741.html

(Mods, I don't conciser this attacking a Mobileread member because she is only here to rant over Pluto. Check her posting history-- the only other time she showed up was over a year ago-- when I mentioned her obsession with Pluto.)