| Pluto Hijacked
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| Date and Time |
- | Aug. 25th, 2006, 11:16 am | |
| Current Mood |
- |  cranky | |
| Current Music |
- | budgies in conference | |
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So, the planet vote was " hijacked". I thought having a near unanimous vote sounded a bit odd. I don't like the new definition and prefer the original proposal. Sure if the number of planets jumps to over 200 the word "planet" might lose some of it's "stature", but the definition is the most basic one and natural one. Science isn't about convenience or seemliness or popularity, it's about figuring out what is. The new complicated definition of "planet" only serves to complicate and confuse matters. It is not science, it's PR. |
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| And Then There Were Eight
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| Date and Time |
- | Aug. 24th, 2006, 11:10 am | |
| Current Mood |
- | blank | |
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| Astronomers meeting in the Czech capital have voted to strip Pluto of its status as a planet.
About 2,500 experts were in Prague for the International Astronomical Union's (IAU) general assembly.
Astronomers rejected a proposal that would have retained Pluto as a planet and brought three other objects into the cosmic club.
Pluto has been considered a planet since its discovery in 1930 by the American Clyde Tombaugh.
The ninth planet will now effectively be airbrushed out of school and university textbooks.
The decision was made at a meeting of the International Astronomical Union (IAU) in Prague. The astronomers voted by raising their yellow ballot papers for a count.
"The eight planets are Mercury, Earth, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune," said the IAU resolution, which was passed following a week of stormy debate.
full article | |
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