Pluto Loses Designation, Sues IAU

[RickSp]

Pluto Loses Designation, Sues IAU

In a move that surprised many legal observers, one of Pluto's leading public-interest groups yesterday sued the International Astronomical Union after the IAU declassified Pluto as one of the nine "classical" planets that circles the Sun. It is not yet known where venue for the case ultimately will be placed or precisely which judge eventually will hear the case. "The IAU isn't the end-all, be-all for the solar system," said a public relations spokesperson for Pluto, appearing on CNN's Larry King Show. "You can't just un-designate a planet without giving folks on the planet an opportunity for due process, and the right to be heard, and to challenge the facts upon which the decision is based." The complaint alleges that the IAU violated key provisions of the Administrative Procedure Act, federal constitutional law, and certain Plutonian legal principles that are too complicated to set forth here.

[The Bacon Guy]

Who are these people to claim the right to make these unilateral decisions which have serious implications for us all? Do the IAU realise that by removing Pluto from the list of planets, astrology and horoscopes will be rendered useless? Predictions made by newspaper astrologers will be reduced to mere scribblings of generalised mindless claptrap with no basis in fact. People may even start to believe that astrologers are nothing more than quacks, capitalizing on the general public's gullibility. Perish the thought.

[Scribbler1]

Screw Pluto. What has it done for me lately?

[bishop]

9 planets has a much better ring than 8.. and now, gradeschoolers are going to have to come up with entirely new ways to memorize all the planets, in sequential order from the sun..

pluto's better as a disney character anyways.

[Scribbler1]

But look at all the textbooks that will now be entirely wrong and need to be replaced. Do we have enough schools in poor neighborhoods to take all those old books? And what of the inner city schools that have to get rid off all their CURRENT books (the ones that list the solar system as having 7 planets)?

[Chaossaber314]

My very energetic mother just served me nine...

Fuck.

[Jack]

Whoever intelligently designed Pluto is responsible. Didn't they realize they made it all wrong for a planet?
Another dumb-ass design project that probably cost the galaxy millions.

[The Bacon Guy]

Quote by: bish 9 planets has a much better ring than 8.. and now, gradeschoolers are going to have to come up with entirely new ways to memorize all the planets, in sequential order from the sun.

Actually, there are now 12 planets in all; 8 classical and 4 dwarves. Whether or not Pluto is downgraded, the number of planets still changes. I believe the sequential order is now Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Ceres, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto, Charon, 2003 UB313 (nicknamed "Xena"). Anybody know a mneumonic for that?

[Jack]

My Very Earnest Mother Considers Java Safe Under Normal, Personal Conditions...Xerox.

(It really would just be easier to memorize the damned names themselves)

[bishop]

so long as uranus is the biggest planet, all's well in the universe.

[RickSp]

[center]

Pluto will always be with us.[/center]

[xyzer]

The bacon guy has it right! My fortune telling business will obviously suffer. Besides I don't like any experts changing labels without it going through the courts. I've never viewed Pluto except in pictures and I'm not sure it is even there but it did come in handy as a topic of conversation once in a while.

[gr8fuldaniel]

Quote by: Topic Article "You can't just un-designate a planet without giving folks on the planet an opportunity for due process, and the right to be heard, and to challenge the facts upon which the decision is based."

"Giving folks on the planet an opportunity"?
Since when do we really care what foreigners think?

Edit to add:
Is he talking about "folks on the planet", being THIS planet. Earth??
If so, never mind.

[bishop]

why did this group (the IAU) even bother to waste its/our time with such a pointless endeavor? as if it matters whether pluto's called a planet, a moon, a frozen turd... all this hubub over a characterization.

people sure are morons. hopefully none of my tax money goes towards this group. if it does, they should at least give me a free annual horoscope.

[Chris]

Am I reading this right? Does Xena have a Trans Neptune Object close to it called Gabrielle?

Funny as hell! I wonder what the girl who played Gabrielle in the TV show thinks of this.

Image:Transneptuneobjects.jpg - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[bishop]

gabrielle was pretty damn hot... i miss that show.

[Chris]

yep. As it turns out it isnt an official name yet but just a nickname that would be cool if it did become the official name though.

Gabrielle (Xena) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

S/2005 (2003 UB313) 1 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[Fonceai]

Quote by: Bacon Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Ceres, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto, Charon, 2003 UB313 (nicknamed "Xena").

Is Ceres a name for the Asteroid Belt?

As far as the rest, Charon is one of Pluto's satellites.

I think the running list of classic planets is:

Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune

And the trans-Neptune ones are:

Pluto, Persephone, Xena

[Chris]

No Charon was changed from a moon to another TNO

My bad....

"Charon should not be confused with the similarly named Chiron, a smaller object in the outer solar system."

[Fonceai]

So then the TNO are Pluton, Charon, Persephone, and Xena?