Does anyone know why Pluto is no longer a planet?

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26 Aug 2006, 10:06 pm

I have heard of a newspaper article yesterday about news that Pluto is no longer a planet. The scientists state that Pluto can now be classified as a star instead. But how does this affect astrology?

MrMark
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26 Aug 2006, 10:36 pm

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060824/ap_ ... _mutiny_12

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26 Aug 2006, 10:42 pm

Pluto can't be reclassified as a star, but it is no longer classified as a planet due to the new definitions. It is now being called a dwarf planet.

Quote:

The IAU...resolves that planets and other bodies in our Solar System be defined into three distinct categories in the following way:

(1) A "planet" [1] is a celestial body that: (a) is in orbit around the Sun, (b) has sufficient mass for its self-gravity to overcome rigid body forces so that it assumes a hydrostatic equilibrium (nearly round) shape, and (c) has cleared the neighbourhood around its orbit.

(2) A "dwarf planet" is a celestial body that: (a) is in orbit around the Sun, (b) has sufficient mass for its self-gravity to overcome rigid body forces so that it assumes a hydrostatic equilibrium (nearly round) shape [2], (c) has not cleared the neighbourhood around its orbit, and (d) is not a satellite.

(3) All other objects [3] except satellites orbiting the Sun shall be referred to collectively as "Small Solar System Bodies".

Footnotes:

[1] The eight planets are: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune.
[2] An IAU process will be established to assign borderline objects into either "dwarf planet" and other categories.
[3] These currently include most of the Solar System asteroids, most Trans-Neptunian Objects (TNOs), comets, and other small bodies.

The IAU further resolves:

Pluto is a "dwarf planet" by the above definition and is recognized as the prototype of a new category of trans-Neptunian objects.

Not about to comment on astrology...

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26 Aug 2006, 11:00 pm

That sucks! Pluto not being a planet that is.
I heard recently about a cntroversy over instead of making pluto not a planet, adding some more instead, beyond pluto. I guess this is the news that things didn't go that way. I so wanted another planet.

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27 Aug 2006, 12:24 am

While many people (including scientists) had some sentimental value attached to Pluto, I think the IAU made the right decision based on Pluto's characteristics. Pluto just happened to be the first KBO that was discovered, and in 1930 its size was greatly overestimated. I'm also assuming that its elliptical, overlapping, and tilted orbit was not fully understood at the time.

What still confuses me a bit is why Charon is not also being classified as a dwarf planet. They were going to call it a pluton before they changed the criteria again. Isn't Pluto and Charon technically a true double planet? (Apparently not? )

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27 Aug 2006, 1:57 am

ill-lushtrator wrote:

But how does this affect astrology?

"The ruler of Scorpio is Pluto. Prior to the discovery of the ninth planet, Scorpio was ruled by Mars, which is still considered co-ruler."
Which gives me the picture of a slightly disgruntled Pluto, perhaps with pipe and slippers, muttering "Well, now I've been discovered, I suppose I'm going to have to go to work."

All Scorpio charts prior to 1930 were out because they didn't include Pluto, or the ones from 1930 to now were out because they shouldn't have included Pluto (and they all neglected Charon, Ceres, UB313...), or the whole thing's a bunch of dingo's kidneys, so it doesn't much matter one way or the other.

deep-techno
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27 Aug 2006, 2:58 am

There is a large belt of asteroids at the edge of the Solar system called the Kuiper belt. It havs been decided that Pluto is a very small object from that belt. Scientists thought that they had discovered a 10th planet called Xena, which was then also denoted as part of the Kuiper belt. It is very similar to Pluto, and logically is Xena is not a planet then nor is Pluto. A good decision IMO.

MrMark
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27 Aug 2006, 4:56 am

Hey how did this whole astrology thing work back when we were on a 13-month calendar?

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deep-techno
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27 Aug 2006, 5:02 am

Astrology = Things about the star signs and therapies
Astronomy = Things about space discovery and the matter that exists in the universe.

You should have said "this whole astronomy thing". :wink:

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27 Aug 2006, 5:43 am

deep-techno wrote:

You should have said "this whole astronomy thing". :wink:

No, I asked what I wanted to know. How did astrology work when we were on a 13-month lunar calendar?

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deep-techno
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27 Aug 2006, 6:55 am

My mistake. :roll:

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27 Aug 2006, 8:49 am

MrMark wrote:

Hey how did this whole astrology thing work back when we were on a 13-month calendar?

Astrology doesn't work at all anyway

no matter how many months or planets there are.

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MrMark
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27 Aug 2006, 10:16 am

Yeah, but that's beside the point.

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Xuincherguixe
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28 Aug 2006, 7:31 pm

Musical_Lottie wrote:

MrMark wrote:

Hey how did this whole astrology thing work back when we were on a 13-month calendar?

Astrology doesn't work at all anyway

no matter how many months or planets there are.

I wouldn't say that it doesn't work at all. There may be something to it.

But probably not.

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28 Aug 2006, 7:34 pm

http://www.wrongplanet.net/asperger.htm ... 444#279444

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01 Sep 2006, 10:39 am

Xuincherguixe wrote:

I wouldn't say that it doesn't work at all. There may be something to it.

But probably not.

Western astrology is based on the Gregorian calender, but there are many different calendar systems in the world some of which are still commonly used, and some of which haven't been used in centuries. Also, the planets beyond Jupiter haven't always been known so they've been added to the equation since astrology's inception. So the question is, if astrology has any merit whatsoever, then how do we know which system is the right one? Or if the right one has even been found yet?

People should stick to runes, they're much simpler.

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