{"id":1225,"date":"2006-08-26T08:43:35","date_gmt":"2006-08-26T11:43:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.hoogervorst.ca\/arthur\/?p=1225"},"modified":"2006-09-07T21:00:33","modified_gmt":"2006-09-08T00:00:33","slug":"what-about-pluto","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.hoogervorst.ca\/arthur\/?p=1225","title":{"rendered":"What about, Pluto<\/strike>dwarfs?"},"content":{"rendered":"

A<\/span>nd \"The<\/a>then this week, the IAU (International Astronomical Union<\/a>) decided to classify Pluto as a ‘dwarf planet’.\n<\/p>\n

A summary of the (adopted by vote) resolutions can be found at the IAU site<\/a>, where the honourable astronomers decided first to determine which types of planets there (resolution 5A):\n<\/p>\n

\nRESOLUTION 5A
\nThe IAU therefore resolves that “planets” and other bodies in our Solar System be defined into three distinct categories in the following way:
\n(1) A “planet”1 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.
\n(2) A “dwarf 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) shape2 , (c) has not cleared the neighbourhood around its orbit, and (d) is not a satellite.
\n(3) All other objects3 except satellites orbiting the Sun shall be referred to collectively as “Small Solar-System Bodies”. <\/p>\n

Resolution 6A concludes simple with ‘Pluto is a “dwarf planet” by the above definition and is recognized as the prototype of a new category of trans-Neptunian objects’.\n<\/p>\n

So long Pluto. We hardly knew ye. Well, in about 8 years<\/a>, we may learn more about this dwarf planet.\n<\/p>\n

Update 1<\/strong>: I suppose this is bad news for the astrology industry.
\nUpdate 2<\/strong>: The semantics of dwarf planets and dwarf humans<\/a>.
\nUpdate 3<\/strong> (09\/07\/06): New Scientist on Astrology and Pluto<\/a>.
\nUpdate 4<\/strong> (09\/07\/06): And Bad Astronomy Blog on this story<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

And then this week, the IAU (International Astronomical Union) decided to classify Pluto as a ‘dwarf planet’. A summary of the (adopted by vote) resolutions can be found at the IAU site, where the honourable astronomers decided first to determine … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[7],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.hoogervorst.ca\/arthur\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1225"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.hoogervorst.ca\/arthur\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.hoogervorst.ca\/arthur\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.hoogervorst.ca\/arthur\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.hoogervorst.ca\/arthur\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1225"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.hoogervorst.ca\/arthur\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1225\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.hoogervorst.ca\/arthur\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1225"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.hoogervorst.ca\/arthur\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1225"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.hoogervorst.ca\/arthur\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1225"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}