[Chaos-l] Pluto demoted; threatens to withdraw from solar system entirely [HA,HA HA]

[Terry Crook]

Venus a "dwarf gas giant"?  It is neither giant 
nor gaseous, but has a rocky surface (and 
presumably core) insofar as radar scans have shown to date.
As for the known solar gas giants, we don't know 
how solid their interiors may be, albeit very 
hot. It is thought that Jupiter's interior is 
likely metallic hydrogen under enormous pressure.
As for the other recent orphans/castoffs, I would 
prefer "planetoid" to dwarf or local KBO!
Hey, what's in a name? :-)
Thanks for the article references, BTW.

At 04:08 PM 8/24/2006, D Gary Grady wrote:
>The IAU's new definition of "planet" leaves us with eight planets rather
>than nine or twelve, and creating a new category of "dwarf planets" that
>includes Ceres, Pluto, and "Xena":
>
>http://skytonight.com/news/home/3728231.html
>
>Other articles:
>
>http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601085&sid=aK.m.ZTg.GOc&refer=europe
>
>http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5703014
>
>http://news.com.com/Images+Its+official-Plutos+out/2300-11397_3-6106240.html
>
>http://tennessean.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060824/NEWS08/60824005
>
>None of these, not even the first one (Sky & Telescope's) is very clear
>on exactly why Pluto and Ceres were booted out of the lineup, except
>that it has to do with orbital dynamics; Pluto and Ceres don't
>gravitationally dominate their orbital neighborhoods.
>
>A relatively small number of astronomers actually voted, and a lot of
>people are griping about the decision, so the subject might well be
>revisited. Some even note that there's a case to be made for
>distinguishing the gas giants from the rocky planets (but then might
>Venus qualify as a dwarf gas giant?)...
>
>Finally, here's Clyde Tombaugh's widow's reaction (in brief, Tombaugh
>would not have been distressed by Pluto's change of status):
>http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?type=scienceNews&storyid=2006-08-24T182026Z_01_N24440274_RTRUKOT_0_TEXT0.xml&src=082406_1432_FEATURES_science
>
>--
>D Gary Grady
>Durham NC USA
>dgary at mindspring.com
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TaurusTerry in Chapel Hill, NC
35° 57' N  79° 02' W

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