For now, membership will be restricted to the eight "classical" planets in the solar system: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. Much-maligned Pluto doesn't make the grade under the new rules for a planet: "a celestial body that is in orbit around the sun, has sufficient mass for its self-gravity to overcome rigid body forces so that it assumes a ... nearly round shape, and has cleared the neighborhood around its orbit."Pluto is automatically disqualified because its oblong orbit overlaps with Neptune's.
Aww. Why oh why did they do that?!?! Our solar system will not be thesame. Oh pluto! Nine planets will be come eight.. ack! we're Plutoless!
3 comments:
The raging debate will continue, according to this article I just found: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060824/ap_on_sc/pluto_demoted
I have visions of men in white lab coats unceremoniously beating each other about the head and ears in this one... hehehe
Patrick
Hehehe.Yup Pat. I think Pluto, deserved to be with the other planets. It's been there since...forever and just because the mere size of it was somehow the reason,those astronomers think, it should be removed. Oh for Pluto's sake! ehehe.
See? Size DOES matter :P
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