tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-339164762011-12-14T18:51:50.288-08:00Simplify the Solar Systembrownpauhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12853200176255350352noreply@blogger.comBlogger541100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33916476.post-59069840297363104002011-08-24T14:48:00.000-07:002011-08-24T14:49:55.592-07:00

brownpauhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12853200176255350352noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33916476.post-40500118495330981912011-07-20T15:32:00.000-07:002011-07-20T15:34:18.512-07:00

Even a Kuiper Belt Object like Pluto can have a rich system of moons. Still not a planet.

brownpauhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12853200176255350352noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33916476.post-18433531641948955072011-06-09T05:32:00.001-07:002011-06-09T05:32:50.499-07:00

brownpauhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12853200176255350352noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33916476.post-56252247844292063512011-04-06T07:50:00.000-07:002011-04-06T07:51:48.903-07:00

Your humble site owner and his wife pose with everyone's favorite astronomer:

brownpauhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12853200176255350352noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33916476.post-36856193381335149282011-02-15T06:52:00.000-08:002011-02-15T06:53:05.513-08:00

Image contains some profanity.

brownpauhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12853200176255350352noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33916476.post-33866298140248756762010-12-26T10:19:00.001-08:002010-12-26T10:20:24.792-08:00

STO describes Sol as an 8 planet system. They know truth in the 25th Century.

brownpauhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12853200176255350352noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33916476.post-46688422858251407412010-11-10T14:08:00.001-08:002010-11-10T14:09:00.345-08:00

A book by astronomer Mike "Plutokiller" Brown.

brownpauhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12853200176255350352noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33916476.post-57766345872902484222010-02-28T19:54:00.000-08:002010-02-28T19:55:46.456-08:00

"If you want to classify Pluto in the same breath as you classify Jupiter, and your argument is that they're both round, and this ignores the fact that one is mostly gas, the other is mostly ice, and one is a zillion times bigger, what are you doing? The classification ought to be something that's useful."

brownpauhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12853200176255350352noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33916476.post-85805671800006029932010-02-17T08:21:00.001-08:002010-02-17T08:21:41.281-08:00

brownpauhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12853200176255350352noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33916476.post-1174923867247641692010-01-27T08:17:00.001-08:002010-01-27T08:17:21.659-08:00

...that planetary categorization isn't determined by the anthropocentric whims of sentimental amateurs?

brownpauhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12853200176255350352noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33916476.post-10561943017718799782009-12-16T08:09:00.000-08:002009-12-16T08:11:22.068-08:00

This page shows a scale model of the solar system....Speaking of Pluto, I know it's no longer technically a planet, but it's still included in this model for reasons of tradition.And that's okay. A Kuiper Belt Object like Pluto still has the utility of scale.

brownpauhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12853200176255350352noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33916476.post-52517805330300379422009-03-07T09:25:00.001-08:002009-03-07T09:25:55.763-08:00

lol

brownpauhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12853200176255350352noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33916476.post-16612097955094503592009-03-07T09:24:00.000-08:002009-03-07T09:26:18.639-08:00

"RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE NINETY-SIXTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that as Pluto passes overhead through Illinois’ night skies, that it be reestablished with full planetary status, and that March 13, 2009 be declared "Pluto Day" in the State of Illinois in honor of the date its discovery was announced in 1930."Dear Illinois legislature: Get back to work.

brownpauhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12853200176255350352noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33916476.post-922730279205313102009-01-28T20:30:00.000-08:002009-01-28T20:33:25.109-08:00

brownpauhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12853200176255350352noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33916476.post-36823956068025778332008-09-20T16:28:00.000-07:002008-09-20T16:29:18.371-07:00

"Our best estimate is that a complete survey of the Kuiper belt would double this number, so there are roughly 100 dwarf planets in the Kuiper belt, of which 50 are currently known."

brownpauhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12853200176255350352noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33916476.post-58441263752189209112008-09-07T22:02:00.000-07:002008-09-08T07:49:59.935-07:00

brownpauhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12853200176255350352noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33916476.post-37193620646202141352008-08-13T08:53:00.000-07:002008-08-13T08:54:39.325-07:00

"I don’t think our science should be driven by public opinion — if they want Pluto to be a planet, that may be too bad if it doesn’t fit the bill. But it would be kinda nice to give them an answer to that, one that can be easily understood."

brownpauhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12853200176255350352noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33916476.post-9639402426442480072008-08-13T08:48:00.000-07:002008-08-13T09:06:52.923-07:00

Astronomers, do you trust a pagan horoscope reader to set the agenda on planetary classification for you?

brownpauhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12853200176255350352noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33916476.post-69293464585566392242008-08-13T08:25:00.001-07:002008-08-13T08:26:09.287-07:00

The whole point of the "dwarf planet" debate and the demotion of Pluto was to simplify planetary classification and make the solar system easier to understand.Recent IAU addenda to the categorization of Pluto-like objects -- reference "Plutoids" -- are not only confusing and unnecessary, but are inexplicably and narrow-mindedly Sol-centered categorizations, inapplicable to exoplanets in other

brownpauhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12853200176255350352noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33916476.post-37347390200898992892008-06-11T11:18:00.000-07:002008-06-11T11:19:47.871-07:00

"There is still a small but extremely vocal group of astronomers who remain incensed about Pluto's demotion. They will use this as a soapbox to repeat their initial complaints about Pluto. Other astronomers are likely to yawn. Plutoids? Sure, why not. Most astronomers have moved well beyond the Pluto-debate and the semantics associated with it. If Pluto is happy being a Plutoid then it is

brownpauhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12853200176255350352noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33916476.post-10320640171012254022008-05-07T06:29:00.000-07:002008-05-07T06:32:32.171-07:00

"Dude, there are hundreds, if not thousands of Pluto sized planetoids. Pluto was discovered first of those objects, and mistakenly thought to be very unique."Planets are the huge and few main satellites of the sun. It's a category defined entirely by scarcity. There are only 8. Not 8000. Pluto can't be a planet and the hundreds or thousands of larger objects not be, but the fact that there were

brownpauhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12853200176255350352noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33916476.post-33103402585155689352008-04-10T13:38:00.000-07:002008-04-10T13:40:44.475-07:00

"Any object that doesn't meet this 3rd criteria is considered a dwarf planet. And sadly, that's where Pluto stands today. There are still many objects with similar size and mass to Pluto jostling around in its orbit. And until Pluto crashes into many of them and gains mass, it will remain a dwarf planet. Eris suffers from the same problem."

brownpauhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12853200176255350352noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33916476.post-72143759085164002142007-12-11T07:44:00.000-08:002007-12-11T07:52:02.392-08:00

A 2000 paper by Stern and Levison proposed a system of planet classification that included both the concepts of hydrostatic equilibrium and clearing the neighbourhood used in the new definition, with a proposed classification scheme labelling all sub-stellar objects in hydrostatic equilibrium as "planets" and subclassifying them into "überplanets" and "unterplanets" based on a mathematical

brownpauhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12853200176255350352noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33916476.post-25105061312743773042007-11-26T06:23:00.000-08:002007-11-26T06:25:49.977-08:00

"...in yet another great stride for the Holy Cause for the Demotion of Pluto, the solar system exhibit at the Hall of the Universe (under the Hayden Planetarium in the Rose Center) has been seamlessly updated to exclude Pluto as a planet, mentioning it instead as a major member of the Kuiper Belt."

brownpauhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12853200176255350352noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33916476.post-48200906453811969172007-09-08T16:38:00.000-07:002007-09-08T16:40:10.915-07:00

"Pluto and 2003 UB313 are significantly smaller than the other planets. If you were to start to classify things in the solar system from scratch, with no preconceived notions about which things belong in which categories, you would likely come to only one conclusion. The four giant planets -- Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune -- belong in one category, the four terrestrial planets -- Mercury,

brownpauhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12853200176255350352noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33916476.post-9958955751013875212007-09-05T09:32:00.001-07:002007-09-05T19:52:25.021-07:00

"I would like to point out that, at the time of the debate, I wanted Pluto to remain a planet. I say "at the time" because my attachment to that position has been reatly soured by the attitude of many people online - such as Laurele - who act as if this was the end of a world. It isn't."

brownpauhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12853200176255350352noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33916476.post-70296805771539983462007-09-05T08:56:00.000-07:002007-09-05T19:52:28.712-07:00

[original]

brownpauhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12853200176255350352noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33916476.post-23676245874520416652007-08-02T14:39:00.000-07:002007-09-06T07:35:48.367-07:00

"Some people applaud the IAU's decision, while other people refuse to accept it. It has been almost a year since the decision was made, and although people know Pluto is not a planet, many people fail to understand why Pluto is not a planet."

brownpauhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12853200176255350352noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33916476.post-49457900241482551172007-06-15T06:55:00.000-07:002007-09-05T19:52:35.855-07:00

Eris is 127% Pluto's mass, further proving that a planetary reclassification is necessary to properly categorize Pluto-like Kuiper Belt Objects such as Sedna, Eris, Dysnomia, and Ceres. Pluto is a Dwarf Planet.

brownpauhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12853200176255350352noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33916476.post-25230725913541024312007-03-09T12:27:00.000-08:002007-09-05T19:52:39.051-07:00

New Mexico legislature demonstrates its collective ignorance regarding categorization of celestial bodies with a "Joint Memorial" resolution. Adding on to the fallacies of nostalgic clinging to Pluto's old status in addition to judging it by the presence of satellites, the resolution inexplicably mentions Pluto's average orbit as part of the proof of its being a planet. Get out of last century,

brownpauhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12853200176255350352noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33916476.post-13276991098950066022007-01-22T05:32:00.000-08:002007-09-05T19:52:42.206-07:00

"On the one hand, demoting Pluto was an easy scientific decision. Our cultural kitsch should have no bearing on the reality of the universe. We should strive to see the cosmos as it is: just a swirl of dust and gravity, in which our sun is only a minor star. Sometimes, new knowledge requires us to redraw the celestial lines, to alter the maps that we project onto the dark. But nothing has really

brownpauhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12853200176255350352noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33916476.post-17499414504325644192007-01-08T11:48:00.000-08:002007-09-05T19:52:45.013-07:00

To "pluto" is "to demote or devalue someone or something" much like what happened to the former planet last year when the General Assembly of the International Astronomical Union decided Pluto did not meet its definition of a planet.

brownpauhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12853200176255350352noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33916476.post-52222850923789127782006-12-11T22:06:00.000-08:002007-09-05T19:52:47.908-07:00

Will the American Geophysical Union remove Pluto from the sidewalk display? DemotePluto.com says No, Pluto still serves as a representative for all spherical Kuiper Belt Objects, dwarf planets like itself.

brownpauhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12853200176255350352noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33916476.post-1163655140430732552006-11-15T21:30:00.000-08:002006-11-15T21:32:20.443-08:00

"An international group of scientists who demoted the planet Pluto to dwarf status three months ago met in Oslo, Norway today and reclassified the Bush White House as a dwarf presidency."Heh.

brownpauhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12853200176255350352noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33916476.post-1162126041146317992006-10-29T04:46:00.000-08:002006-10-30T05:20:20.826-08:00

The Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum's Exploring the Planets exhibit has updated some of its solar system displays to clarify Pluto's new status as a "Dwarf Planet," and added an "In Memoriam" poster to explain the classification change.

brownpauhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12853200176255350352noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33916476.post-1161413298505613652006-10-20T23:45:00.000-07:002006-10-28T05:19:35.006-07:00

"But the proliferation of names I don't see as much of a problem. One has no difficulty at all meeting kids, who can name several dozen ancient dinosaurs -- not just several, but several dozen. Having a lot of planet names would or will be fine."Oh, good, then you won't mind that our solar system charts will look like this to start:Image from Michael Brown

brownpauhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12853200176255350352noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33916476.post-1161413113754125752006-10-20T23:43:00.000-07:002006-10-28T05:19:42.780-07:00

Foust makes the standard "clearing the neighborhood" mistake, ignoring the gravitational influence argument.You can stop referrer-spamming me now, SonicWall user. I'll be in touch with SonicWall to ask who's been using their service to spam DemotePluto's referrers.

brownpauhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12853200176255350352noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33916476.post-1158562630114809602006-09-17T23:56:00.000-07:002006-09-17T23:57:10.123-07:00

Is Pluto the largest dwarf planet? No! Currently, the largest known dwarf planet is (136199) Eris, renamed last week from 2003 UB313. Eris is just slightly larger than Pluto, but orbits as far as twice Pluto's distance from the Sun.

brownpauhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12853200176255350352noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33916476.post-1158237663777337342006-09-14T05:39:00.000-07:002006-09-14T05:41:31.766-07:00

'Protesters at New Mexico State University where Pluto's discoverer, the late Clyde Tombaugh was a professor emeritus, argued that because only about ten percent of astronomers voted for the change, the electoral result is unrepresentative. The difficulty with this argument is that astronomy is a diverse field with many different areas of specialization. The majority of astronomers don't work on

brownpauhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12853200176255350352noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33916476.post-1158013251084417722006-09-11T15:20:00.000-07:002006-09-11T15:35:24.816-07:00

'On Sept. 7, the former 9th planet was assigned the asteroid number 134340 by the Minor Planet Center (MPC) .... Pluto's companion satellites, Charon, Nix and Hydra are considered part of the same system and will not be assigned separate asteroid numbers, said MPC director emeritus Brian Marsden. Instead, they will be called 134340 I, II and III, respectively.'

brownpauhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12853200176255350352noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33916476.post-1158006853803637272006-09-11T13:31:00.000-07:002006-09-11T13:34:13.810-07:00

'There may be cultural and historical reasons to maintain Pluto's planetary status, but from a scientific point of view, the new IAU definition of a planet, which excludes Pluto, makes a lot of sense .... The distinction in our solar system between the eight big worlds that stand alone, and the swarms of smaller objects with continuous size distributions, is so striking that it's telling us

brownpauhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12853200176255350352noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33916476.post-1157928386117399912006-09-10T15:46:00.000-07:002006-09-10T15:46:26.123-07:00

'Common sense prevailed!'

brownpauhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12853200176255350352noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33916476.post-1157849256399496392006-09-09T17:46:00.000-07:002006-09-09T17:47:36.436-07:00

'As the leader of New Horizons, I believe this is the right course for us to take, for a number of reasons. One is that the IAU definition is too controversial. Another is that it is losing, rather than gaining, support, and is likely to be largely irrelevant in the long term. A third is, despite the fact that the IAU has put its reputation behind such words, we should not support a technically

brownpauhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12853200176255350352noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33916476.post-1157781356619105122006-09-08T22:55:00.000-07:002006-09-08T22:55:56.626-07:00

'This demotion -- actually a kind of promotion, really, as it boosts Pluto from "smallest planet" to "one of the largest spherical KBOs" -- has caused significant outrage, as a lot of non-astronomy-minded people out there seem to identify sentimentally with Pluto. Perhaps they project their own personalities onto Pluto as a lonely planetary underdog floating in the outer reaches of its

brownpauhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12853200176255350352noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33916476.post-1157733345776305962006-09-08T09:33:00.000-07:002006-09-08T09:36:03.776-07:00

'The IAU decision was political. Scientists voted to demote Pluto to the status of "dwarf planet." While it can be argued that science is an evolving understanding of the natural world, and definitions have to change, public reaction varied from dismayed to amused.'

brownpauhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12853200176255350352noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33916476.post-1157733215463520492006-09-08T09:32:00.000-07:002006-09-08T09:36:10.456-07:00

'The newly spotted object is a companion to CHXR 73, a low-mass red dwarf star located 500 light-years from Earth, and is itself called CHXR 73 B. With 12 times the mass of Jupiter, CHXR 73 B straddles the line between the largest planets and the smallest stars.'

brownpauhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12853200176255350352noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33916476.post-1157650962320629842006-09-07T10:42:00.000-07:002006-09-07T10:42:42.330-07:00

The Thinkgeek shirt.

brownpauhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12853200176255350352noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33916476.post-1157624541278440312006-09-07T03:21:00.000-07:002006-09-07T03:22:21.276-07:00

"After all, it's not a great idea to let cultural attachments dictate scientific categories."

brownpauhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12853200176255350352noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33916476.post-1157611940946129642006-09-06T23:51:00.000-07:002006-09-06T23:52:39.010-07:00

"Resolved by the Assembly of the State of California, That the Assembly hereby condemns the International Astronomical Union's decision to strip Pluto of its planetary status for its tremendous impact on the people of California and the state's long term fiscalhealth..."

brownpauhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12853200176255350352noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33916476.post-1157521801036152742006-09-05T22:49:00.000-07:002006-09-05T22:50:01.043-07:00

'DemotePluto.com is an eloquent site proclaiming, in austere black and white, the reasons why Pluto is not a planet, never was a planet and (if they have their way) never will be a planet again.'

brownpauhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12853200176255350352noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33916476.post-1157491102285398192006-09-05T14:18:00.000-07:002006-09-05T14:18:22.286-07:00

brownpauhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12853200176255350352noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33916476.post-1157491036369392712006-09-05T14:16:00.000-07:002006-09-05T14:17:16.370-07:00

Rosaly Lopes, The Planetary Society: 'So far, the best compromise I have heard came from an email from the National Science Teachers Association. It said "Pluto is a dwarf planet. It is still a planet, you don't need to take it off your wall". This is not quite what the IAU meant by its definition, but perhaps the teachers have already worked out a compromise, ahead of us scientists.'

brownpauhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12853200176255350352noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33916476.post-1157490978188453242006-09-05T14:15:00.000-07:002006-09-05T14:16:18.196-07:00

'Patsy Tombaugh, the famed astronomer's widow, and their son Al Tombaugh also participated in the NMSU protest. "I'm disappointed that this has happened," Patsy Tombaugh, 93, told The Albuquerque Tribune.'

brownpauhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12853200176255350352noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33916476.post-1157489755119275462006-08-31T23:55:00.000-07:002006-09-05T15:04:28.753-07:00

28 Aug 2006Small World: The Shrinking Planet PlutoAsymptotia: A Glimmer of Hope for Pluto?25 Aug 2006NASA: Honey, I Shrunk the Solar SystemMichael Brown: Eight PlanetsDave Jewitt on the IAU ResolutionsSmithsonian National Air and Space Museum Demotes PlutoThe Great Dysfunctional Planet Debate"Dwarf Planet" a linguistic catastrophe24 Aug 2006Pluto has been demoted.IAU 2006 General Assembly: Result

brownpauhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12853200176255350352noreply@blogger.com0