The Nine Planets

[Tellaris]

New Possible Planet Criteria And Listing\

Well.   May have to learn a few new "Planets".    Think I'll keep the general public's defention.

[Leviathan]

Saw this is news.

Intresting.

[Mcshay]

2003 UB313

Rolls right off the tongue  :huh:  

[CK9]

LMAO!  There's no prestige to the word "planet" in the first place!  What a loon!

[omagaalpha]

My definetion planet is be 1st orbit the sun not orbit a another planet. obvously has be bigger then are moon too

[Sl0vi]

let's just call them all space debris

[Freeza-CII]

yes interesting but there is a reason they call them asteroids.  Even tho the biggest one yet is like 1/4 or 1/3 the size of the moon lol

[CK9]

I say if it's a perfect sphere and not orbiting a planet, it is a spacial body that has posibility of being defined as a planet

[Chandler]

FYI - Earth is not a perfect sphere. It is slightly wider in the middle...

[Tellaris]

Thats partly due to the pulling of the moon's gravitation field on the Earth.    And I think they mean a general roundish shape...   Oval's good too.

[Betaray]

yea cause saturn is very oval shape, and I doubt anyone would have the balls to say that its not a planet

[CK9]

I never said that it HAD to be a perfect sphere, just that if it IS a perfect sphere, it is a candadate for being called a planet

[Betaray]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1_Ceres

ceres does look pretty round, so your saying anything not potato shaped

I think it could be considered a planatiod, but not a full blown planet

[CK9]

as long as it doesn't have that rocky/asteroid look to it

BTW, which one of Jupiter's moons is it that they say has conditions similar to early earth's?

[Betaray]

I think you mean saturns moon titan, because its the only one with a thick atmosphere

the funny thing is, because the atmosphere is so thick and the gravity is so low, that a person would be able to fly under his own power just by strapping a couple flimzy wings on their arms (think of the old footage of people trying to fly)

I also like europa, I hope we send a probe their, because if we find life, even if its just microbial it would send a shockwave through the world

thats not the only place, scientists now beleave that the first life may have begun in extremly hot conditions right near magma vents for example, an envirement almost exactly like Jupiders moon Io

there are alot of places where life could be, unfortunality it takes a hell of alot of money to send a probe to each one

[CK9]

so why note make a re-usable probe?  Make a satelite with three anchored probes (the anchoring just providing a guide back to the satelite) and add some thrusters to the probes to allow them to get back into space.  If the gravity is too great, have the satelite disconnect with the probe.

[Freeza-CII]

The problem with a returning probe is the weight and fuel a prob that would beable to return would weigh alot because it would need all the heat shielding and extra fuel.  And it would be rather large  even though there just moons you still have to escape the gravity of the moon and then of the planet that is near it.

[CK9]

and of course there is little chance of a magnetic feild...

[zhukant]

let's just call them all space debris

"The Solar System consists of the Sun, Jupiter, and assorted debris."
                           — Arthur C. Clarke; 2061: Odyssey Three.


They have resolved that a planet is defined as following:
1. It must orbit around the Sun.
2. It must have enough gravity to pull itself into a spheroidal shape.
3. It must have cleared its neighbourhood of debris.
The IAU decision on the definition of 'Planet'.

That means Pluto isn't a planet anymore, but rather a 'Dwarf planet.'

That kind of makes me sad, angry, and frustrated. <_<