What is Digg?95 Comments
- inactive, on 07/07/2008, -1/+58Pretty soon Earths not going to be a planet.
- MasterThief117, on 07/08/2008, -0/+37Back in my day, Pluto was a planet.
- ileftfark, on 07/08/2008, -0/+36It was actually due more to poor performance as a planet, often showing up late and/or hungover.
- inactive, on 07/07/2008, -1/+31This is crucial. I know it has kept me up nights wondering.
- ARupp, on 07/07/2008, -1/+28Oh boy, get ready for another planet debate.
- JesseNeutron, on 07/07/2008, -0/+22I'm still excited to know that Mercury was once covered in volcanoes. Giant volcanoes. Spewing huge amounts of liquid death.
- aphexcoil, on 07/08/2008, -1/+20First Pluto and we were down to 8 planets. Now they want to debate Mercury? MERCURY? The thing is the closest large rock to the sun. What is going on with this planet definition? Is it suddenly becoming an ultraselective "posh" club where only select large spherical rocks can be members?
So then we'll be down to seven planets. Then someone will look at Venus and not like it because women are from there -- so Venus will be outed. It probably won't even make planetoid status -- it will go straight to overgrown, angry, bitchy asteroid status.
Then they'll attack Mars and use the reasoning that it is rusted and old.
Then Jupiter and Saturn will be too fat.
Uranus .. well, who want's a BIG FAT ASS as a planet? GONE!
Neptune? Looks like Uranus -- GONE!
So that will leave one planet -- Earth. The only planet in the solar system. - FeloniusMonkey, on 07/08/2008, -0/+12About a decade ago, they officially changed it to "My Very Eager Mother Just Served Uncle Nate."
And in a month, "Very Energetic Mimes Jump Silently Until Noon" - vonsama, on 07/07/2008, -2/+14this is just paranoia. the demotion of pluto had nothing to do with it's size so much as it's original formation.
- cnosal, on 07/08/2008, -0/+11IIRC the main factor in Pluto's demotion wasn't its size, but its orbit. A planet is supposed to have a stable orbit, and have cleared out their orbital region. Pluto's orbit crossed that of Neptune, and then there's the Kuiper belt full of Pluto-like objects. There's no similar argument for Mercury.
- inactive, on 07/08/2008, -3/+14Here's a definition for them:
Anything big enough that if you stand on it and jump up, you'll not go into orbit. - PainToad, on 07/08/2008, -1/+10PLUTO WILL RISE AGAIN
- inactive, on 07/07/2008, -1/+10Well I'm pretty sure that mercury metals days are numbered. It's the most toxic metal man has ever come across.
- wonderchemist, on 07/08/2008, -1/+10Now, My Very Educated Mother Just Said Un-oh No Pluto.
- Rally603, on 07/08/2008, -0/+8Mercury is twice the planet you'll ever be.
- waydee, on 07/08/2008, -0/+7My Very Easy Method Just Speeds Up Naming Planets
- Niightwitch, on 07/08/2008, -0/+6In time there will be nothing left except Uranus.
- Niightwitch, on 07/08/2008, -0/+6Uranus is a gas giant also.
- inactive, on 07/08/2008, -0/+6What the ***** are you on about?
- gab00n, on 07/08/2008, -0/+5What if it is a gas giant?
- diblasio, on 07/08/2008, -0/+5Ugh. I thought Mercury was going to explode or be propelled out into the universe or something. Just changing its classification but probably not? Lame.
- dafragsta, on 07/08/2008, -1/+6Don't worry Pluto, I'm not a planet either.
I read that on a t-shirt on a website I visited because of some hot chick in a banner ad on Digg. My cultural intake has been stunted by Digg. - Flappity, on 07/08/2008, -0/+5What?
- gaapgod, on 07/08/2008, -0/+5The IAU therefore resolves that planets and other bodies in our Solar System, except satellites, be defined into three distinct categories in the following way:
(1) A "planet" is 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 neighbourhood around its orbit.
MERCURY WILL NEVER BE DEMOTED TO DWARF PLANET BECAUSE IT MEETS ALL THREE CRITERIA. PLUTO DID NOT MEET (C). MERCURY DOESN'T HAVE TO WORRY ABOUT (C) UNTIL THE SUN EATS IT IN A FEW BILLION YEARS, AND THEN WE WILL HAVE MORE IMPORTANT THINGS TO BE WORRIED ABOUT. - jeffiek, on 07/07/2008, -4/+8'Earth is cooling in a similar way"
Sounds to me like global warming is a good thing. - LucerinRed, on 07/08/2008, -0/+4I actually teach, and We changed it to "My Very Eager Mother Just Served Us Nachos"
- gaapgod, on 07/08/2008, -0/+4Often I post: "INAPPROPRIATE APOSTROPHE!!!!"
Now I take extreme delight in posting:
APOSTROPHE NEEDED! - aphexcoil, on 07/08/2008, -0/+4Anything almost capable of becoming its own star gets a pass ...
- palehorse864, on 07/08/2008, -1/+5My Very Eager Mother Just Served Us Nothing. :(
Thanks astronomical union for altering my childhood and giving me a complex. You snatched the pizza right out of our mouths! - Pusod, on 07/08/2008, -2/+5Aww... poor little dwarf planet. Those big nasty scientist are picking on you too? Don't worry, I'll protect ya!
LEAVE MERCURY ALONE YOU *****!!! You've had yer fun with Pluto! - gaapgod, on 07/08/2008, -0/+3WRONG. This would apply to the moon and many asteriods.
- whataboutdave, on 07/08/2008, -1/+4Misleading title. The article is more about thermal activity than "planet status" in astronomy circles.
- Keffmaster, on 07/08/2008, -0/+2The people who wrote this are idiots. They really need to do their homework. I agree with gaapgod defn of a planet as of 2006
* is in orbit around the Sun,
* has sufficient mass so that it assumes a hydrostatic equilibrium (nearly round) shape, and
* has "cleared the neighbourhood" around its orbit.
Mercury will never lose any of those. At least until the sun blows up but then we wont be around to care anyway. - DaHuuuuuudge, on 07/08/2008, -0/+2Since when is mercury a precious metal?
- aphexcoil, on 07/08/2008, -1/+3Reminds me of this one from electronics class ...
"Bad Boys Rape Our Young Girls, But Violet Goes Willingly."
(used to remember the colored striped on resistors ... the more you know!) - ExRe, on 07/08/2008, -3/+5This is stupid.
Pluto hardly like a planet at all, it is basically a giant asteroid or comet. Pluto doesn't have an orbit similar to any real planet.
http://www.daviddarling.info/images/Pluto_orbit.gi ...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Definition_of_planet - Ghoul, on 07/08/2008, -0/+2The reason Pluto was demoted was because it has not cleared its orbit. It is not much different from when Ceres was first discovered and declared a planet (along with the other large asteroids), and then later demoted when it was realized that there were many other celestial objects in the vicinity with similar composition, origin, etc.
- herschman321, on 07/08/2008, -0/+2gtfo
- adml_shake, on 07/08/2008, -2/+4Ya damn kids and your "science".....
- rwald, on 07/08/2008, -0/+2I'd hate to see the mnemonic you'd need to memorize all of those (>50, at least).
- shagomir, on 07/08/2008, -0/+2What the hell? Mercury lost what, around a mile from it's diameter? that's like a 0.03% reduction.
The writer of this article is an idiot. - icantdenythis, on 07/08/2008, -0/+2the T-shirt industry will be delighted
- kaplanfx, on 07/08/2008, -0/+1then is Eris a planet??? it's suspected to be larger (more massive) than pluto and orbits the sun. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eris_(dwarf_planet)
heck it's even got a nice little moon going. - kaplanfx, on 07/08/2008, -0/+1This would put Pluto, Eris, Sedna, and others (does EL2003 whatever count??? It's in hydrostatic equilibrium but it's rotational velocity makes it highly elongated like an oval rather than a sphere) in the class planet, which I totally agree with, it's the simplest explanation of "planet".
edit: ok, I'm not sure those guys have cleared the neighbourhood, that is going to be subjective as they have highly eccentric orbits and don't stay in the ecliptic plane. - DaHuuuuuudge, on 07/08/2008, -0/+1What the ***** is he on?
- BBX25, on 07/08/2008, -0/+1Better Be Right Or Your Great Big Venture Goes Wrong
- kgunning, on 07/08/2008, -0/+1As long as we're gonna keep getting rid of planets, let's make it cool. Death star, anyone?
- mllawso, on 07/08/2008, -0/+1That's better than the "Black boys..." version I've heard a few times.
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