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Post by Kim Falconer on Aug 17, 2006 2:21:36 GMT
Hi everyone, I'm insanely busy right now, but I had to post this latest bit of news from the IAU! I've put a blurb on my main page with links to full articles! The IAU, International Astronomical Union, has tabled a proposal that potential will add 100's of planets to our solar system! The new criteria is that the bodies be ROUND! The vote is up on August 24th and although the IAU are only willing to acknowledge 12 planets so far (including the debated PLUTO and the newly discovered 2003UB131), Professor Michael Brown believes there may be 100's of 'round' planets in the Kuiper Belt alone! To discover more about the criteria for planetary status that is being proposed by the IAU, read Mike Brown's full article here . . .www.gps.caltech.edu/~mbrown/whatsaplanet/Now it's going to get interesting! I'll be freed up soon!  Warmly, Kim |
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Post by ana on Aug 22, 2006 11:03:46 GMT
This conference will be followed by the admittance to psych clinic of large numbers of overwrought astrologers who have not been keeping up with the asteroids and other developments etc etc [ and thus got quite blase about astrology going bigger and bigger etc] on the good sites while us lot will sit smugly and cope with only a modest course of Rescue Remedy Or something like that....
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Post by AquarianEssence on Aug 22, 2006 11:40:00 GMT
LMAO Ana, You bring to mind all the rude remarks on the Tyl site attacking those who use asteroids and give them importance. The only one that is respected there is Chiron. Even us little guys and girls deserve respect.
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Post by Kim Falconer on Aug 22, 2006 21:07:23 GMT
lol...very humorous! Thanks!  Keep watching my main page for further developments. Astronomers are in an uproar (along with, as you mention, many astrologers!) and the proposal may not pass. www.falconastrology.comFor me...I'll carry on either way. A rose is still a rose  Kim |
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Post by gemstar on Aug 24, 2006 14:19:51 GMT
And Pluto is outta there.....wow.
Don't they have better things to attend to? Hee-hee....yes, it will not change astrology!!
This rose makes itself known...like it or not!
Hugs-
GemStar
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Post by blueorchids on Aug 24, 2006 16:06:06 GMT
"Pluto has just been demoted."
"The celestial body, long known as a planet, will now be considered a "dwarf planet," the General Assembly of the 2006 International Astronomical Union ruled in a vote Thursday in Prague, Czech Republic.
Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune will be defined as "classical planets."
Three other bodies had been contending for planetary status as well: Ceres, the largest-known asteroid; "Xena," the nickname for 2003 UB313; and Charon, which has been considered Pluto's moon.
Ceres and "Xena" will now share "dwarf planet" status with Pluto. Charon, it has been concluded, will be grouped with "small solar-system bodies."
The IAU said in a statement on Thursday that the definition for planet is now officially "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 neighborhood around its orbit."
"More dwarf planets are expected to be announced by the IAU in the coming months and years,"a ccording to the IAU statement. "Currently, a dozen candidate dwarf planets are listed on IAU's dwarf planet watchlist, which keeps changing as new objects are found and the physics of the existing candidates becomes better-known."
About 2,500 members of the IAU, a community of astronomers from around the world, have been meeting since late last week to debate and vote on a series of resolutions that include definitions of solar-system bodies. The IAU General Assembly is held every three years. This session, four terrestrial bodies in particular have been the focus of the debate--the most prominent being Pluto, which was discovered in 1930."
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Post by Kim Falconer on Aug 24, 2006 23:21:33 GMT
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Post by primamateria on Aug 25, 2006 1:33:47 GMT
this is from today's edition of Planet Waves, Eric Francis:
The Earth is Not a Planet
PRAGUE, Aug. 24 -- Today's session of the International Astronomical Union (IAU) general assembly had yet another surprise outcome, as astronomers voted overwhelmingly that the Earth is not a planet.
"We are just following the laws of science," said Prof. Melvin Peabody of the Yale's Bush Observatory, announcing the vote at a hastily convened news conference.
"We worked very hard to come up with a definition of 'planet' that was scientifically consistent and that everyone agreed upon. We feel we've done our work well, and that we will be vindicated by history."
There were several discussion points on the Earth issue. First, it was established that no scientist discovered the Earth. No record of it could be found in the planetary catalogues, and after searching the night sky for many years, no scientist has seen it through a telescope.
"We tried looking through both ends, as well," said Dr. Karl Zeiss of the University of Okoboji's Planetary Science Department. "It was a long and fruitless search. We even tried looking during the day, when the light was better, but we didn't find anything. I was deeply disappointed. I had hoped that would find the Earth somewhere out there."
The astronomers were assisted by Prof. Juniper Kegel, who teaches existentialist philosophy at the University of Prague. Kegel was awakened at home and summoned to the late-night session to assist the astronomers, who had found themselves a bit lost in their own reasoning process.
"Or what was passing for reasoning," Kegal said in an interview with The Wall Street Journal. "It was late. They seemed to be coming up with the bland old postmodern argument that they themselves did not exist. A little knowledge can be a dangerous thing, of course. But with some effort and a clever idea, I convinced them that they probably existed."
Kegel said he accomplished that by making a pot of coffee. "I asked, 'Can you smell the coffee?' and when they said all agreed they could, I had some proof. They tried, but nobody could find a reason why they would be able to smell the coffee and not exist at the same time. I don't like the stuff, but sometimes you have to apply inductive logic."
According to our sources at the secret negotiation sessions that led to the decision, the final definition omitting the Earth hinged on two factors: chipmunks and street lights.
"We have searched the heavens diligently," Peabody, from the Bush Observatory said, "And we have found no other body orbiting the Sun where chipmunks live. Clearly, the Earth is in a class by itself."
But other astronomers objected to this reasoning. "We don't have telescopes that can resolve chipmunks at that distance. And if we did, it would be hard to distinguish them from squirrels and woodchucks," said Dr. Daniella Fink from Adirondack Community College. "We can't say for sure whether or not there are chipmunks on Ceres or Charon. Someday they may be discovered and then we'll all look like asses. Science is constantly discovering things that weren't there yesterday. Everyone seems to forget this."
"Also, they didn't consider that chipmunks move pretty quickly and they're difficult to spot, even when you're right nearby. But these guys don't get out much."
Apparently, several geologists at the conference reacted strongly to the use of the word "earth," which they felt was one of their special words, and that astronomers should not be allowed to use it.
"If they do, people will get confused between the earth they walk around on, and the Earth, the planet. We felt that we would avoid confusion by separating the two terms, and that's why we supported the resolution to strip the Earth of planetary status," Said Dr. Oscar Stone of the Lesser University of Mumbai's Earth Sciences Department.
The presence of street lights on Earth also seemed to help tip the scales.
"This is a bizarre phenomenon," said Dr. David Edison, 12th cousin of the inventor of the light bulb. "And it can only happen here. We have seen street lights nowhere else, not even on Uranus. I am forced to conclude that if there are street lights, it must not be a planet. I have no other choice."
Street Lamps are now being recorded in a special catalogue.
Apparently, a special committee of astronomers was sent out late Wednesday night to observe the phenomenon of artificial urban illumination. They began cataloging the objects they saw, and developing rules for naming them.
"With nearly 320,000 objects in the planetary catalogue, we're sure to run out any time now," said one member of the street-light subcommittee. By 2 am, the list had swelled to several thousand objects, and the astronomers had only walked half a kilometer.
"They sort of have a point," said Chad Tjuillo, co-discoverer of Quaoar, reached late last night on top of a mountain in Hawaii. "Nobody actually discovered the Earth. I've been searching the planet catalogue for an hour, and I can't find it anywhere. But the part about chipmunks is confusing."
"Kids love chipmunks. They are part of our culture," said Mike Brown, who keeps discovering planets and pinball machines. "If we claim that chipmunks might exist other places, little kids would be very disappointed. So that is why I supported the proposal to have the Earth not be a planet. We don't want to spoil the magic of nature."
"It's been a long meeting," said Ladislav Smelcer, a cartoonist for Nuncius Sidereus III, the official congress newspaper. "By the end, these people were coming up with stuff that I could not even dream of. But they've kept me busy."
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Post by Kim Falconer on Aug 27, 2006 8:16:24 GMT
It is v. funny...but worrisome too!
If the decision is not overturned, it doesn’t say much for us as a collective in terms of how we value give the 'underworld', our unconscious.
There is a new thread with links to petitions and news about astronomer's responses...
Kim
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Post by AquarianEssence on Aug 27, 2006 18:24:50 GMT
I think that's right, Jade. Think of the importance of the partnership between Charon and Hades. No one enters the recess of the underworld without proper visa. In other words, unless were ready, protected on our journey, we don't gain entrance. This just reminds me we, as a collective group, are in partnership. And on the personal level, no journey I take happens unless I am ready and protected. I believe this is a universal law, one that cannot be broken or changed. I know many say there are no absolutes, but I don't believe this and I haven't seen evidence this is true. There are certain things we can always count on no matter what. One is that Charon will lead us to Pluto when, and only when we are ready.
PS. I love the picture of you and your daughter. I swear I know you. I just sat there and stared, thinking I know here, I know I do.
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