IC Forum Archive

charlie · Posts: 211

This is so cool. During our lifetime we might name and add another planet to our solar system.

http://www.cnn.com/2005/TECH/space/07/30/new.planet/index.html

kommissar · Posts: 6

I'd name it "Betty".

special blend · Posts: 154

"Janus" because of Chrono Trigger.

EndlessChris · Posts: 431

Name it STEVE

Ukyo · Posts: 99

Yeah, but (as mentioned in the article) there is also speculation on whether or not Pluto should in fact be considered a planet, as it seems like almost any other piece of space debris (albeit big space debris, debris that if it were hail, you'd recall it being the size of golf balls) in the Kuiper Belt.

Thus maybe we'd get another planet and lose Pluto, what would be the fun in that?

I say, in following with tradition, we name it Bacchus, that little guy deserves a planet.

special blend · Posts: 154

PLANET X

ubik · Posts: 44

I got into a discussion about this at The Reptilain Resistance Forums and here is the same not-quite-accurate stuff going on here too,

Pluto has a moon, it's called Charon, space debris doesn't tend to have a moon, and it doesn't tend to have a fixed orbit around a star either.

And Chiron tends to be regarded as a planet, sometimes as a planetoid, whatever that is meant to mean?! That's been known officially-publicly since 1977.

Planet X.......some people call that Nibiru, or Marduk. It's possible that it was part of Sirius, before it exploded into it's A, B, and C stars - there's some amount of evidence to indicate that what we call precession of the equinoxes is ascribable to our sun being connected to Sirius, in orbital organisation, so Planet X could be an orbiting body between this sun and Sirius.

I don't know how much of that has been covered - what is the current understanding of how the solar systems and stars are connected to one another, espcially within galaxies they all orbit the centre of?

Obvious it's not an easy one to prove or show to anyone, but I reckon that the asteroid belt will be eventually shown to have been a larger object that took a hit - and where that hit came from, same way physics works down here, has become 'wobble-attached' to this solar system ever since, and precession is a side-effect. That precession matches the north pole to four main stars, over 26,000 years, I don't see as that different to factors such as - if you make a fast break in say a plastered surface it will tend to break out in three distinct fissures, whereas if you leave the same plaster surface over time and it ages of it's own accord, then it will tend to break out into four distinct fissures.

It's not the amount that is key there of course, it's just the same type of dynamics that seem to be at work - like billiard* balls hitting one another, what happens is predicatble, what will fly off to where is traceable.

* i prefer pool or snooker personally, but 'pool balls' or 'snooker balls' didn't seem like the right phrase/words to put there

charlie · Posts: 211

Either you are using some astronomer shorthand lingo or you are adhering to the old adage of baffling with bullshit, cause I did not understand a word you just said.. Either way I say we call this new planet....Regin.

special blend · Posts: 154

This one's for Persona:

Name it "Puckle"!

Ukyo · Posts: 99

ubik wrote:

Pluto has a moon, it's called Charon, space debris doesn't tend to have a moon, and it doesn't tend to have a fixed orbit around a star either.

Okay, space debris was not the best of words, I'll go with asteroid, albeit not that much better of a word, but still something. Asteroids, large ones, tend to be more spherical and able to have satellites, smaller ones, ones that we think of when we imagine the asteroid belt, have gravity, just a very little amount, unable to hold a satellite of it's own. If it were included in the Kuiper Belt which orbits the Sun, wouldn't that constitute it's reason for orbit?

Don't all things have pretty fixed orbits, I meant, those that are of ample weight that the gravity of a star would be able to keep it in said orbit? They've found asteroids 1/3rd the size of Pluto already in the Kuiper Belt, and this is only preliminary findings. It's pretty possible they could find some Pluto sized ones, in the Kuiper Belt, then would they be planets? They have the same make-up, it seems.

Again, my use of the word space debris was really a misreading, as I thought the the paranthetical phrase would show, but I guess it wasn't noted as such.

Swimmy · Posts: 147

Let's all just mess with this game until we come to a satisfying conclusion.

GcDiaz · Posts: 1057

Dang, can anyone establish a permanent orbit? My record is 5 complete revolutions before the roid shot out too far. The moon snatched it up then.

nickcan · Posts: 25

yea, I got one, it's a bit lopsided when the moon is far away, but every time it comes back it reverts to a nice circle.

EndlessChris · Posts: 431

Mine's been going for 18+ and it doesnt look like its stopping anytime soon.

nickcan · Posts: 25

how many can you get at the same time?

and do they effect each other?

and why does this remind me so much of that one ball dropping program?

Swimmy · Posts: 147

They don't affect each other, they can run into each other and their gravity won't influence the others'. You can have as many as you can get, really. Just click wildly all over the screen and you're bound to get a few.

Mr. Mechanical · Posts: 1890

My record is ten permanent orbits, and crazy loopy orbits at that. Lots of close calls. This is pretty neat.

Mister Toups · Posts: 4943

They should name it "Sephiroth", which would be more lollerific.

Guardian FINAL · Posts: 1137

It's a damned joke. Every couple of years, "scientists" decide that, since the puny, comet-like Pluto has been called a planet (oh wait, let's pause and decide the very important issue of whether it really deserves that status), we might as well pick some other ball of ice orbiting halfway to alpha centauri and call it the tenth planet. It's a ridiculous sensationalist scam used to regenerate public interest in astronomy every few years, but it only makes them look like clowns. I love the hell out of theoretical astronomy and this is exactly the kind of shit that gets me pissed.

charlie · Posts: 211

Anybody gotten a satellite into one of the Lagrange Points?

aderack · Posts: 5018

Guardian FINAL wrote:

It's a damned joke. Every couple of years, "scientists" decide that, since the puny, comet-like Pluto has been called a planet (oh wait, let's pause and decide the very important issue of whether it really deserves that status), we might as well pick some other ball of ice orbiting halfway to alpha centauri and call it the tenth planet. It's a ridiculous sensationalist scam used to regenerate public interest in astronomy every few years, but it only makes them look like clowns. I love the hell out of theoretical astronomy and this is exactly the kind of shit that gets me pissed.

So you've been paying attention.

What's fun in this case is that the guy who "discovered" this thing has, up to its discovery, been arguing against Pluto being considered a planet at all.

Now things look a little different, apparently.

winkerwanker · Posts: 2414

As saw an interview with him on the Channel Four news tonight. His arguement was that his discovery was round about twice the size of Pluto so was eligible even if Pluto was reduced to godforsaken rock status.

Teflon · Posts: 286

What got me about the whole thing is that on monday NASA goes "We've calculated that planes X, located 800 lightyears from our solar system has an atmosphere containing 67% nitrogen" and then on tuesday some guy goes "Oh hey look there's a tenth planet RIGHT THE FUCK OUTSIDE THE OBSERVATORY!".

The distances at which astronomers can detect things seem a bit inconsistent to me, 's all I'm saying.

Guardian FINAL · Posts: 1137

aderack wrote:

Guardian FINAL wrote:

It's a damned joke. Every couple of years, "scientists" decide that, since the puny, comet-like Pluto has been called a planet (oh wait, let's pause and decide the very important issue of whether it really deserves that status), we might as well pick some other ball of ice orbiting halfway to alpha centauri and call it the tenth planet. It's a ridiculous sensationalist scam used to regenerate public interest in astronomy every few years, but it only makes them look like clowns. I love the hell out of theoretical astronomy and this is exactly the kind of shit that gets me pissed.

So you've been paying attention.

What's fun in this case is that the guy who "discovered" this thing has, up to its discovery, been arguing against Pluto being considered a planet at all.

That is mildly unusual, but if he's doing that just because his ice ball is twice Pluto's size then he's still missed the point.

We should brush aside the entire Solar System and start from scratch with actual principles guiding our nomenclature rather than being made up as we go along.

I miss your old avatar.

n0wak · Posts: 72

winkerwanker wrote:

As saw an interview with him on the Channel Four news tonight. His arguement was that his discovery was round about twice the size of Pluto so was eligible even if Pluto was reduced to godforsaken rock status.

Yeah, but at the same time, it's at a 45 degree plane compared to the actual planets (more severe than pluto even), so it's even more comet like than Pluto really.

Anyway, who cares... http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap050720.html THERE BE WATER (ice) IN DEM DER CRATERS

Guardian FINAL · Posts: 1137

n0wak wrote:

Anyway, who cares... http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap050720.html THERE BE WATER (ice) IN DEM DER CRATERS

We already knew that. It doesn't matter much, because the water on Mars only seems to exist in places where it will always remain frozen. The planet does not seem to be inside the Solar System's current orbital distance range where liquid water can exist.

Ayane · Posts: 61

Mister Toups wrote:

They should name it "Sephiroth", which would be more lollerific.

JENOVA. ...Frickin' FORESHADOWING. Don't say I didn't warn you...