For all of you who are still fucked up about Pluto no longer being considered a planet, this ones for you.
As per the International Astronomical Union, all similar distant bodies in the solar system will be called "plutoids" from now on. The union made the official announcement of the decision on Wednesday after they met in Norway.
The group demoted what was once the ninth planet to "dwarf" status in 2006 but the new policy allows Pluto to be the standard for a whole new category of what are presently being called "dwarf planets".
Pluto and another dwarf Eris are the only two in the new catagory. Dwarf planets have to circle the sun but be too small to be considered planets yet be big enough to have a level of gravity that keeps them in a near spherical shape. Plutoids also must be farther from the sun than Neptune.
The discovery of Eris in 2003 is what got Pluto demoted but astronomers expect more plutoids to be discovered in the future.
The union's first choice for the catagory was pluton but that name was already used by geologists so they scrapped that and dubbed it plutoid.
The astronomers' action makes Pluto more important says IAU president Catherine Cesarsky, a French astrophysicist. Instead of being a "puny" outer planet, Pluto is now a "prototype of a new type of fascinating objects," she said.
Alan Stern who advocates Pluto-as-a-planet and is a former NASA space sciences chief and principal investigator on a mission to Pluto was not pleased and implied that a rival group could be formed to the IAU, which he said was too secretive in its decision-making.
"It's just some people in a smoke-filled room who dreamed it up," Stern said. "Plutoids or hemorrhoids, whatever they call it. This is irrelevant."
Ok so that rhyme we all said to memorize our solar system is a little different now: My Very Educated Mother Just Served Us NinePies.
As per the International Astronomical Union, all similar distant bodies in the solar system will be called "plutoids" from now on. The union made the official announcement of the decision on Wednesday after they met in Norway.
The group demoted what was once the ninth planet to "dwarf" status in 2006 but the new policy allows Pluto to be the standard for a whole new category of what are presently being called "dwarf planets".
Pluto and another dwarf Eris are the only two in the new catagory. Dwarf planets have to circle the sun but be too small to be considered planets yet be big enough to have a level of gravity that keeps them in a near spherical shape. Plutoids also must be farther from the sun than Neptune.
The discovery of Eris in 2003 is what got Pluto demoted but astronomers expect more plutoids to be discovered in the future.
The union's first choice for the catagory was pluton but that name was already used by geologists so they scrapped that and dubbed it plutoid.
The astronomers' action makes Pluto more important says IAU president Catherine Cesarsky, a French astrophysicist. Instead of being a "puny" outer planet, Pluto is now a "prototype of a new type of fascinating objects," she said.
Alan Stern who advocates Pluto-as-a-planet and is a former NASA space sciences chief and principal investigator on a mission to Pluto was not pleased and implied that a rival group could be formed to the IAU, which he said was too secretive in its decision-making.
"It's just some people in a smoke-filled room who dreamed it up," Stern said. "Plutoids or hemorrhoids, whatever they call it. This is irrelevant."
Ok so that rhyme we all said to memorize our solar system is a little different now: My Very Educated Mother Just Served Us Nine
Solar system=Planets 8, Plutoids 2. Read more about it here.
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