PRAGUE, Czech Republic - Leading astronomers declared Thursday that Pluto is no longer a planet under historic new guidelines that downsize the solar system from nine planets to eight.


After a tumultuous week of clashing over the essence of the cosmos, the International Astronomical Union stripped Pluto of the planetary status it has held since its discovery in 1930. The new definition of what is — and isn't — a planet fills a centuries-old black hole for scientists who have labored since Copernicus without one.

Although astronomers applauded after the vote, Jocelyn Bell Burnell — a specialist in neutron stars from Northern Ireland who oversaw the proceedings — urged those who might be "quite disappointed" to look on the bright side.

"It could be argued that we are creating an umbrella called 'planet' under which the dwarf planets exist," she said, drawing laughter by waving a stuffed Pluto of Walt Disney fame beneath a real umbrella.

"Many more Plutos wait to be discovered," added Richard Binzel, a professor of planetary science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

The decision by the prestigious international group spells out the basic tests that celestial objects will have to meet before they can be considered for admission to the elite cosmic club.

For now, membership will be restricted to the eight "classical" planets in the solar system: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune.

Much-maligned Pluto doesn't make the grade under the new rules for a planet: "a celestial body that is in orbit around the sun, has sufficient mass for its self-gravity to overcome rigid body forces so that it assumes a ... nearly round shape, and has cleared the neighborhood around its orbit."

Pluto is automatically disqualified because its oblong orbit overlaps with Neptune's.

Instead, it will be reclassified in a new category of "dwarf planets," similar to what long have been termed "minor planets." The definition also lays out a third class of lesser objects that orbit the sun — "small solar system bodies," a term that will apply to numerous asteroids, comets and other natural satellites.

Experts said there could be dozens of dwarf planets catalogued across the solar system in the next few years.

NASA said Thursday that Pluto's demotion would not affect its US$700 million New Horizons spacecraft mission, which earlier this year began a 9 1/2-year journey to the oddball object to unearth more of its secrets.

"We will continue pursuing exploration of the most scientifically interesting objects in the solar system, regardless of how they are categorized," Paul Hertz, chief scientist for the science mission directorate, said in a statement.

The decision on Pluto at a conference of 2,500 astronomers from 75 countries was a dramatic shift from just a week ago, when the group's leaders floated a proposal that would have reaffirmed Pluto's planetary status and made planets of its largest moon and two other objects.

That plan proved highly unpopular, splitting astronomers into factions and triggering days of sometimes combative debate that led to Pluto's undoing. In the end, only about 300 astronomers cast ballots.

Now, two of the objects that at one point were cruising toward possible full-fledged planethood will join Pluto as dwarfs: the asteroid Ceres, which was a planet in the 1800s before it got demoted, and 2003 UB313, an icy object slightly larger than Pluto whose discoverer, Michael Brown of the California Institute of Technology, has nicknamed Xena.

Charon, the largest of Pluto's three moons, is no longer under consideration for any special designation.

Brown, who watched the proceedings from Cal Tech, took Thursday's vote in stride — even though his discovery won't be christened a planet.

"UB313 is the largest dwarf planet. That's kind of cool," he said.

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Al Reuters
Izquierda Inclinarse, reporting.
August 24, 2006 WASHINGTON DC – Senate and House leaders Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi today decried the decisions made in Prague this week stripping Pluto of it’s planethood. Demonstrations funded by the environmental groups National Wildlife Fund and Greenpeace snarled traffic in downtown DC as they protested what they see as lack of concern for the solar system’s environment. Amidst demonstrators sporting banners which read “Stop Plutonic anti-planetism!”, Senator Reid (D - Nevada) said that “George Bush has gone too far this time! Pluto is the only planet not yet experiencing global warming and now it’s future looks grim since it’s not even a planet anymore.”. Representative Pelosi (D – California) added to the Senators comments by stating “…It’s horrible, the disenfranchisement of the Plutonians in unconscionable.”. She further quipped “The proposal to call this territory [Pluto] a dwarf planet is clearly a racial slur towards our fellow citizens of short but patriotic stature. This administration has repeatedly shown it’s lack of concern for civil rights and it’s time that it was stopped!”. Howard Dean commented that he feels this is the first step in a largely Republican plan to lessen the stature of an entire planet so that Halliburton could then drill for oil there without reprisal and without the need for environmental regulation. Al Gore’s office was called for comment but was unavailable as of press time. It is widely supposed that he is currently perfecting his sequel to the record breaking “An Inconvenient Truth” by producing his next film about Pluto – “Oblong Potato Shaped Warming – A no longer convenient planet”.

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-livin' in the terminally flippant zone

wtf

Peragro, I love the "author's" name.

B

I'm inclining to the left? WTF. There is going to be a demonstration this weekend at the Whitehouse, denouncing the exclusion of Pluto in our planetary system. Captain Kirk and Spock will be there and Lt. Euhura wanted to be there but she had a prior commitment as Parade Queen Host in the annual Lesbian- Gay parade in Wachita Kansas. Bones and Scotty are dead. Mistress Heather will be attending the demonstration and if she doesn't get an audience with these num----- who changed the name she will be forced to show them the new planet Heranus!

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"It's normal for these things to empty your wallet and break your heart in the process."
2012 SLK 350
1987 420 SEL

Satire my man. Ever read Gulliver's Travels?

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-livin' in the terminally flippant zone

Happens, don't worry it will be back.

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1999 SL500
1969 280SE
2023 Ram 1500
2007 Tiara 3200