Anyone ever hear
“My Very Educated Mother Just Served Us Nine Pizzas”?
Also, can anyone here explain why Pluto was denied planet status?
Lois
Anyone ever hear "My Very Educated Mother Just Served Us Nine Pizzas"?Haven't heard that one.
Also, can anyone here explain why Pluto was denied planet status? LoisMichael Brown wrote a book about it, How I Killed Pluto and Why It Had It Coming. The International Astronomical Union demoted Pluto's status because it has not cleared its orbit of debris and its orbit crosses Neptune's orbit. They decided proper planets are large enough to clear debris and have more regular orbits than Pluto. Studying these images may change their minds.
Anyone ever hear "My Very Educated Mother Just Served Us Nine Pizzas"?Haven't heard that one.Its featured prominently in Robert A. Heinlein's Have Spacesuit, Will Travel, part of which takes place on Pluto, interestingly enough.
There's also the fact its orbit is tilted at an angle, unlike any other planet, and the newly discovered Kuiper Belt object, Eris, seemed bigger than Pluto.Also, can anyone here explain why Pluto was denied planet status? LoisMichael Brown wrote a book about it, How I Killed Pluto and Why It Had It Coming. The International Astronomical Union demoted Pluto's status because it has not cleared its orbit of debris and its orbit crosses Neptune's orbit. They decided proper planets are large enough to clear debris and have more regular orbits than Pluto.
Studying these images may change their minds.They're certainly going to have the IAU scratching its head, since Pluto turns out to be larger than Eris, but has less mass than Eris. Frankly, I think that the IAU is going to have to admit that their rules are somewhat arbitrary, since apparently, even a Jupiter sized planet that was orbiting the sun beyond Pluto wouldn't have had time to clear its orbit by now. And what do we do if New Horizons discovers a Mars sized KBO? Is that a 'planet' or a KBO or something else? I'm old enough to remember when it was thought that there was no way you could have a solar system with a gas giant close to its star, yet we've found several since we began looking for exoplanets.
It is kind of curious that everyone is so upset about Pluto being reclassified as a dwarf planet and KBO. It seems to more accurately describe what it is. I can’t help wondering if it had only recently been discovered and called KBO2014a if there would be as much support for classifying it as a planet. Is it really that hard to learn a new mnemonic
“My Very Educated Mother Just Served Us Nachos” 
Thanks for the clarifications, CT. Been a long time since I read any Heinlein, and I had forgotten a few details from Brown’s book.
It is kind of curious that everyone is so upset about Pluto being reclassified as a dwarf planet and KBO. It seems to more accurately describe what it is. I can't help wondering if it had only recently been discovered and called KBO2014a if there would be as much support for classifying it as a planet. Is it really that hard to learn a new mnemonic "My Very Educated Mother Just Served Us Nachos" :-)Good one. If Walt Disney hadn't named Mickey Mouse's dog after Pluto no one would care about its status.
It is kind of curious that everyone is so upset about Pluto being reclassified as a dwarf planet and KBO. It seems to more accurately describe what it is. I can't help wondering if it had only recently been discovered and called KBO2014a if there would be as much support for classifying it as a planet. Is it really that hard to learn a new mnemonic "My Very Educated Mother Just Served Us Nachos" :-)Or nuts, or noodles or nectarines or Napoleons or nothing. Lois
I vote planethood for Pluto and demoting Mercury to dwarf planet status.Darron you might get a kick out of this blog and comments thread
Why is Pluto not a planet? Posted by Greg Laden on July 13, 2015 http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2015/07/13/why-is-pluto-not-a-planetIn the discussion, some are calling for Mercury's head, so to speak, if not Pluto, to heck with lonely, moonless frying freezing Mercury. But more interesting is all the different nuances that come into play when trying to define what's a planet and what's not. Makes my mind spin, at times like this it's a relief to be a consensus kinda guy - I can take the experts word for it and call it good. :cheese: (dang, once again hit 'edit' rather than 'quote') How about changing Pluto's name and status to Plutoid Prime. It would not be a planet, per se, but would be the king, so to speak, of all the other plutoids?
Pics of Nix and Hydra are in.]
Shown here are Nix and Hydra, the second and third Pluto moons to be discovered after Charon. Nix’s color has been enhanced and an intriguing region has been revealed, appearing reddish. According to NASA, the moon is “jelly bean-shaped," around 26 miles (42 kilometers) long and 22 miles (36 kilometers) wide. This reddish region has piqued mission scientists’ interest, and they already speculate that this region may be the site of a large impact crater, but they have to be patient and wait for the spacecraft to send more data. “Additional compositional data has already been taken of Nix, but is not yet downlinked. It will tell us why this region is redder than its surroundings," said Carly Howett, New Horizons mission scientist with the Southwest Research Institute, in Boulder, Colo. “This observation is so tantalizing, I’m finding it hard to be patient for more Nix data to be downlinked." In addition to Nix, New Horizons also sent an observation of Hydra made by the spacecraft’s Long Range Reconnaissance Imager (LORRI) from a distance of 143,000 miles (231,000 kilometers). This observation reveals an irregularly shaped moon around 34 miles (55 kilometers) long and 25 miles (40 kilometers) wide with what appear to be two large craters and some variation in surface composition. “Before last week, Hydra was just a faint point of light, so it’s a surreal experience to see it become an actual place, as we see its shape and spot recognizable features on its surface for the first time," said Ted Stryk, mission science collaborator from Roane State Community College in Tennessee. In addition to Charon, Nix and Hydra, two more moons, Kerberos and Styx — also discovered by Hubble in 2011 and 2012, respectively — are known to orbit Pluto. And as the months go by, planetary scientists will be keen to see more images of Pluto’s extended satellite family beamed back to Earth, helping us better understand the nature of this fascinating region of the Kuiper belt.If there was any doubt that Pluto was a cold bitch, her heart shaped region is carbon monoxide ice.]
A bright, heart-shaped feature, informally dubbed Tombaugh Regio after Pluto discoverer Clyde Tombaugh, displays a concentration of carbon monoxide ice. Charon’s dark-reddish polar cap is probably coloured by ultraviolet radiation that bombards the moon’s surface, transforming ices into complex organic compounds.