Scientists decide Pluto’s no longer a planet

[sabra]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14489259/

Scientists decide Pluto’s no longer a planet
Historic new guidelines approved by astronomers in Prague

PRAGUE, Czech Republic - Leading astronomers approved historic new planet guidelines Thursday — downsizing Earth's neighborhood from nine principal heavenly bodies to eight by demoting distant Pluto.

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.

Fans of Pluto, which was discovered in 1930, are likely to go into orbit over the demotion. But under pressure from opponents, the organization backed off its original plan to retain Pluto's status and bring three other objects into the cosmic club.

Because of the action at the IAU's meeting in Prague, which drew 2,500 astronomers from 75 nations, Earth's neighborhood will officially shrink.

[MaineDem]

1. Poor Percvial Lowell

Bet he's turning over in his grave.

[xmas74]

8. Thought it was Tombaugh.

[MaineDem]

18. Tombaugh finally found it

Lowell had been trying to prove its existance for about 10 years before his death.

So I guess he never really knew it was found so he's probably resting comfortably after all. I somehow always associate Pluto with Lowell. Maybe it's the PL designation for the planet, oops, former planet, that does that to my tired little mind.

:)

[xmas74]

21. I knew the Lowell history behind it

but I've always associated it w/ Tombaugh.

I don't know, I think that Clyde seemed more accessible to me, more like a regular Joe.

[Bill McBlueState]

28. yeah, Tombaugh was a good guy

It's a classic story of how scientists operate -- he was the equivalent of today's postdocs, probably making a pittance, kicking his own ass for months on end, staring at a blink comparator until Pluto jumped out at him. I hope people don't forget about him just because Pluto got "demoted."

[xmas74]

67. I remember being seven years old

and reading mini bios about him and Maria Mitchell. Between the two I dreamed of being an astronomer from age seven to age sixteen.

I don't know-Lowell always seemed like the guy who want you to bow down and kiss his feet while Tombaugh seemed like the guy who would have been happy if you called him by his name instead of "Hey you". Strange how the perspective viewed at the age of seven never really leaves you even as an adult.

[sofa king]

45. Maybe Tombaugh and Lowell are spinning around a common center of gravity

in their graves.

[Art_from_Ark]

126. The symbol for Pluto was chosen to honor Percival Lowell

by representing his initials




http://images.google.co.jp/imgres?imgurl=&imgrefurl=http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/multimedia/display.cfm%3FIM_ID%3D263&h=400&w=411&sz=23&hl=ja&start=2&tbnid=4gZKX-Hq0JeaJM:&tbnh=122&tbnw=125&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dpluto%2Bsymbol%26svnum%3D10%26hl%3Dja%26lr%3D%26sa%3DG

[Fierce]

2. Just Served Us Nine....what? WHAT?

nt

[Bill McBlueState]

27. Just Served Us Nachos

I could go for some nachos.

[Maeve]

42. That works, too! I said "Served Us Nothing" eom

[StatGirl]

59. Noodles? Nutmeg? Natto?

It's amazing how few foods start with N. I think I'd like nachos, too! :)

[KamaAina]

102. Nectarines

Mmmm... nectarines...

[derby378]

3. NOOOOOOOOOOO!!!

Poor little Pluto!

[Richardo]

4. .

[magellan]

5. Wow

I agree with the decision...but how WEIRD not to have nine planets anymore.

[Zodiak]

52. I concur on both counts n/t

Pluto really is stretching the definition of planet.

[calico1]

6. Wow, I guess no one (and nothing)

is immune to downsizing. :-(

[TechBear_Seattle]

10. Wait until the outsourcing begins

:rofl:

[hippiechick]

13. OMG ! ROFL!

:rofl: SO true! :(

[TechBear_Seattle]

7. Pluto may no longer be a planet, but...

It will always be a star my skies. :cry:

[Dhalgren]

9. Buh bye, Pluto. Don't let the cosmic door hit you in the tiny ass!

[Lisa]

81. make that tiny, frozen ass! And take Charon with you ... (n/t)

[Botany]

11. Dog Gone

[Vidar]

22. LOL

[derby378]

12. I was so looking forward to having a double planet...

...but at least Gustav Holst is off the hook.

[Mike Daniels]

32. Holst is safe either way

since "The Planets" was composed before Pluto was discovered.

[Prisoner_Number_Six]

14. Poor Pluto

He never COULD talk to stand up for himself. :cry:

[Tace]

15. Just Imagine The Satisfaction...

of students since 1930 who answered "Eight," to the question "How many planets are in the solar system?"

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

115. And the chagrin of the parents who slapped the stuffin' out of them.

:toast:

[The2ndWheel]

16. Thank God

You can't begin to imagine how much Pluto has been pissing me off all these years. Way out there, too cool for school, thinking he was one of the big boys. Finally put that little ice ball in its place.

[yellowcanine]

24. I agree. Pluto has been posing as a planet for far too long. Pretentious

little prick.

[Endangered Specie]

106. Sorta like our current President no?

[TimeChaser]

17. Nuuuuuuuuuu!

:cry:

[electropop]

19. I looked into the new definition, wondering why it flunks:

From the article:

...
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,”
...


On edit:
Pluto has not cleared Neptune from its orbit, and it also shares orbital space with numerous other Kuiper Belt icy objects. Therefore it flunks the "neighborhood clearing" test.

[Ian David]

43. But Neptune hasn't cleared Pluto from its orbit, either

And what about Planet Xena?

[IndianaGreen]

60. and Jupiter has 50,000 Trojan asteroids in its orbit

as does the Earth and Mars.

[Exultant Democracy]

73. Yeah, I think we can use as many planets as we can get

we should have made more not taken them away.

[Bill McBlueState]

82. "cleared" has to be quantified somehow

Obviously no object has removed every last speck of dust from its neighborhood.

But there's an important difference between Neptune, which contains probably 99% of the mass at 30 AU, and Pluto, which contains less than half of the mass between the extremes of its orbit. I'm not sure I like the phrase "cleared the neighborhood" -- something like "gravitationally dominant" would make the point better.

[electropop]

86. I saw one definition (Haydn planetarium?) of "clearing."

Something like "the mass of a real planet greatly exceeds the combined mass of other objects in its orbital space."

[Spearman87]

92. According to a science buff I know

For every 3 revolutions around the sun Neptune makes, Pluto makes 2. Pluto is locked into this and in some sense is considered to have been captured or is a prisoner to Neptune’s much larger gravitational field. So in some sense maybe Pluto can be considered as ineligible for planet status because it was never able to escape Neptune, but the reverse can’t be said of Neptune.

[flaminbats]

97. the same can be said of Mercury and Venus..

for every two revolutions around the sun Mercury makes, Venus makes at least one. Yet that doesn't make Venus or Mercury ineligible to be a planet...or does it? :shrug:

[Bill McBlueState]

101. the key is "exactly"

For every two orbits Neptune makes, Pluto makes exactly three because of this gravitational effect. There's no such small-number ratio for Mercury and Venus.

[flaminbats]

103. excellent point..

Pluto was discovered in 1930, which means we have another 172 years before we have observed a complete orbit. The same can be said of Neptune..until 2011. Even then can we can only comfirm that Neptune is at the same place in its orbit as it was when discovered.

[Recursion]

111. Newton's laws

If Pluto is locked into orbit with Neptune, Neptune is locked into orbit with Pluto

[Recursion]

63. Doesn't that demote Neptune too?

Neptune hasn't cleared Pluto from its orbit either.

[muriel_volestrangler]

87. Neptune controls, in a sense, Pluto's orbit

Pluto's orbit speeds up and slows down, depending on where Neptune is, with the result that it orbits the Sun exactly 2 times for every 3 of Neptune's. So, in a sense, it is not in an independent orbit. Perhaps that's what they mean by 'clearing its neighborhood'.

http://www.orbitsimulator.com/gravity/articles/pluto.html (with really spiffy graphics - almost as good as being drunk!)

It's a bit of a bummer for the owner of this URL, though: http://www.nineplanets.org/plutodyn.html

[Bill McBlueState]

89. it's too bad, that's a really good site

If I go to http://www.eightplanets.org I just get a message that says "Hello, worlds!"

I don't know what that implies about the ownership of that URL.

[IndianaGreen]

20. The public will react badly to this, and they are the ones that fund

astronomical sciences.

BTW, most planetary astronomical work is done by amateur astronomers.

[Bill McBlueState]

29. You may be right...

But we need a definition that makes sense scientifically. We can't please all the people all the time.

Similarly, much of the public reacts badly to the Big Bang for some reason, and we're not about to abandon that.

[ps1074]

23. ...

(other planets laughing at Pluto)

[xchrom]

25. grrrr!

:mad:

[bloom]

26. hallelujah!

They finally did it.

Now the science book people will all have to do rewrites. It's what makes sense, though.

Maybe they threw out that business of having 12 planets (last week or whenever) so people could see how silly it would be. Where would it end?

[FSogol]

30. Is he still Mickey Mouse's dog? n/t

[meisje]

31. not "Dwarf" but, "Orbitary Challenged Planet"

Damn podstoks!

[Jed Dilligan]

33. Well, the Plutocrats moved in down here 6 years ago,

so I guess they don't care anymore.

[EVDebs]

68. Good one, Cousin Jed ! ROFLMAO

Not only that, they've totally screwed up my astrological forecast (gasp !).

[DeaconBlues]

34. Newsflash!: Scientists of Jupiter decide that Earth is not a planet

This decision by the cosmological society of Jupiter leaves only 4 gaseous bodies in the solar system that fit the definition of a planet.

In a related story, biologists determine that it is impossible for life to exist on solid ground.

[The Stranger]

57. Oh, you beat me to it.

[krispos42]

121. So then the nat'l debt is not out of this... asteroid? lmao

[MrPrax]

35. Activist Scientists...!!!

What next?

Some bullshit about the one of the EIGHT planets getting too warm to support higher mammals?

These guys never learn...

Nine planets has served us well and I see no reason to 'cut and run' with our support Pluto...

"God Bless this World!"



I count 9...
Pictures Don't Lie

...but Hillary and Democrats would have you believe otherwise ;-)

[Hosnon]

36. New Mnemonic Device for Solar System:

Upon Pluto's demotion, here is the new pneumonic device for memorizing our planets:

Max
Viewed
Eight
Martians
Jogging
Swiftly
Using
Nikes

Spread the word DUers (especially teachers)!!!!

[MaineDem]

37. Pssst

It's mnemonic. ;)

And I like the sentence.

[Hosnon]

38. Curse...thanks:)

[Maeve]

41. Revising the old one...

My
Very
Educated
Mother
Just
Served
Us...
Nothing.

(We always used.."Nine Pickles")

[mahatmakanejeeves]

39. Oh, yeah?

Well maybe the Czech Republic isn't really a country.

[MaineDem]

40. And maybe the mission isn't really accomplished

Funny how things can be made to change with just a declaration.

[uppityperson]

44. I thought they just upped the # planets to 12? I am so behind.

[sofa king]

46. Changed their minds.

Not only did Pluto get whacked, but Ceres and UB313 were also stricken from their weeklong reign as planets.

And yet they keep turning.

[uppityperson]

47. darn flip flopping planets

thanks

[plasticsundance]

53. Actually ... I heard on the radio

if the scientists decided that Pluto was recognized as a planet, the number would have gone way past 12.

[IndianaGreen]

48. The vote involved just 424 astronomers!

The vote involved just 424 astronomers who remained for the last day of a meeting of the International Astronomical Union (IAU) in Prague.

"I'm embarassed for astornomy," said Alan Stern, leader of NASA's New Horizon's mission to Pluto and a scientist at the Southwest Research Institute. "Less than 5 percent of the world's astronomers voted."

"This definition stinks, for technical reasons," Stern told SPACE.com. He expects the astronomy community to overturn the decision. Other astronomers criticized the definition as ambiguous.

<snip>

Stern, in charge of the robotic probe on its way to Pluto, said the language of the resolution is flawed. It requires that a planet "has cleared the neighborhood around its orbit." But Earth, Mars, Jupiter and Neptune all have asteroids as neighbors.

"It's patently clear that Earth's zone is not cleared," Stern told SPACE.com. "Jupiter has 50,000 trojan asteroids," which orbit in lockstep with the planet.

Stern called it "absurd" that only 424 astronomers were allowed to vote, out of some 10,000 professional astronomers around the globe.

"It won't stand," he said. "It's a farce."

http://space.com/scienceastronomy/060824_planet_definition.html

The 424 men that voted to strike Pluto as a planet are too obsessed with size. Why would we consider Jupiter to be a planet at all? Jupiter is the only planetary body that generates heat. Shouldn't we classify Jupiter as a proto-star, a failed star?

The object with the proposed name of Xena is nearly as large as Mercury, shouldn't it be called a planet?

[Bretttido]

118. Pluto and Xena are large enough to be considered planets

but the new planet definition requires that their orbits be near spherical and not intersect with the orbits of inner planets. Pluto's orbit intersects with Neptune's orbit and Xena has a very eliptical orbit.

[Ediacara]

49. That's too bad

I wasn't 100% behind their 12 planet idea (I thought Charon should just be considered a moon, I don't really care where the barycenter is), but I liked the concept of round + orbitty = planet. It seemed natural. This new definition (if I'm reading this right) has to do with a threshold of orbital eccentricity, which appears to have been arbitrarily chosen at "less eccentric than Pluto." I would have liked 2003 UB₃₁₃ to have been named Persephone, but alas, it's going to be named something else.

[IndianaGreen]

50. These 424 astronomers also ignored that Pluto has an atmosphere

as does Charon.

[Ediacara]

51. I don't think atmosphere should figure into the equation

Several moons have atmospheres (most obviously Titan), and many planets have atmospheres I would consider "not even there" including Mars. In many cases, the atmospheres on these bodies don't stick around like on Earth or Venus, but are constantly being created by sublimation of ice or other frozen stuff and then escape into outer space. Like I said, round and orbitty seems more natural.

[Bill McBlueState]

75. it's not really eccentricity

They say an object has to have "cleared the neighborhood around its orbit." Neptune has certainly done that, since it's by far the most massive object within any reasonable distance. Pluto, though, appears to be part of a fairly large population of similarly-sized objects at a similar mean distance from the Sun.

The motivation for this is that as they form, planets gather up debris from their surroundings. To have "cleared the neighborhood" means a planet finished forming, in a sense, while objects like Pluto, Ceres, and Xena are only partially formed.

It's going to take some getting used to, but as someone who studies how solar systems form, I think it's a reasonable definition.

[Ediacara]

79. Ok, that makes more sense

The BBC article I read this morning said something like, "Since Pluto crosses Neptune's orbit, it's automatically not a planet," which would imply the definition was linked to an arbitrary degree of orbital eccentricity.

I still like round and orbitty though, BUT I can see problems of "round" concerning icey dwarfs and small rocky planets. I'd imagine it's a lot easier to make a very low mass icey object round because of low hardness and low melting temperatures than it is for a similarly massed rocky body with comparitively higher hardness and melting temps. Perhaps a future compromise for solid planets would be a minimum mass threshold for round rocky objects (this would of course have to be in other solar systems since there's nothing here that really would be altered)?

[BrightKnight]

54. The IAU is full of itself and royalty checks

They just chose some arbitrary algorithm. Demoting Pluto is a great for business if you are an astronomy professor.

There was no mention of cultural tradition in this decision. I guess humanities are taught in a different building.

[Spearman87]

62. The definition does seem rather arbitrary

But kicking Pluto out of the solar system proper has a certain logic. It’s always been a strange outlier. If it were discovered today, now that we know so much more about the Kiper Belt and all the other distant objects out there, I think it would be classified as just a large Kiper Belt Object with little fanfare. Now we have a solar system proper with symmetry to it--four inner rocky planets and four outer gas giants, all revolving in a thin plane, and probably all formed by similar processes during same era. The history of Kiper Belt objects is more vauge. Some may have been “captured” by the sun rather than formed during the early life of the sun. And many will probably be discovered with erratic, irregular orbits, far outside of the plane of the regular solar system, like Pluto.

[BrightKnight]

100. Thanks for making that clear

Astronomy is obviously not my strong subject. The case for this is more compelling than I realized.

At least Pluto will keep its name an NASA will probably retain visitation rights.

[Bill McBlueState]

76. Royalty checks?

What are you talking about?

And the "cultural tradition" of calling Pluto a planet goes back a stunning 76 years. I think our culture will survive.

Did you know that the chair of the commision, Owen Gingerich, is a historian?

[Odin2005]

94. Cultural Tradition has no place in Science.

It is "cultural tradition" to call kelps and other brown seaweeds plants, but us biologists don't consider it a plant because it does not share a common photosynthetic ancestor with the Green Algae-Red Algae-Land Plant lineage.

[Pacifist Patriot]

55. Stop it, just stop it! Or my elementary school education will mean nothing

LOL! Good grief, I got a Poli-Sci Russian Studies degree right before the Soviet Union fell. Now we don't even have nine planets! What next? Red and Yellow don't make Orange?

:)

[The Stranger]

56. What if the IAU of Pluto votes that Earth isn't a planet either?

Who's to decide?

[Az_lefty]

58. Oh no, not this Pluto...

[DoYouEverWonder]

61. I see nine planets

I see nine planets!

[Endangered Specie]

107. ah hahahaha

[krispos42]

120. Oh, that's a good one n/y

[Spearman87]

64. Suspected Plutonian Rioting Breaking out

in the wake of this decision. NASA deep space miccrophones are detecting increased audio signals from several locations on the planet. Audio enhancement of signals from the Southern region has detected curious syllabic fragments:

"No Just*ce, No Peace!"

[w4rma]

65. Looks good to me, but the dwarf planet term should be changed, imho.

dwarf (adjective) planet (noun), but dwarf planets aren't planets. Illogical. I think there hasn't been enough debate over the term "dwarf planet". They should come up with a more descriptive term.

[Spearman87]

70. I've heard they prefer to be called

"little planets"

[w4rma]

77. lol

or diametrically-challenged planets. :)

[Megahurtz]

66. Idiots.

Pluto will always be a planet to me.

[w4rma]

69. When did folks get so anti-science that scientists are now called idiots?

The term planet is a scientific one, not a political one.

[Bill McBlueState]

72. why?

Do you have a reason other than personal preference?

I think the new definition is very reasonable.

[flaminbats]

84. why is Mercury still a planet?

if this defines Mercury as a "dwarf planet"..because of the size and lack of atmosphere, IMO there would be no problem!

Mercury can be viewed on a clear night without a telescope, but Pluto cannot! Mercury is slightly larger than the Moon..Pluto is slightly smaller. :eyes:

We need a more detailed definition for a Planet..does it have an atmosphere, does it have a separate orbit around it's star, and is it a minimum size? But if Pluto, Ceres, and UB313 are not planets..then what makes Mercury a planet?

[Bill McBlueState]

88. Mercury has "cleared its neighborhood"

I'm not the biggest fan of that phrase, but the new definition just says that planets are the most significant objects in the solar system after the Sun. That's what "planet" has always meant in the popular imagination. The new definition attempts to clarify what that means in a way that's useful to scientists.

From the point of view of astronomers, what makes a planet significant is its gravitational effect on nearby objects. That's why the concept of dominating its part of the solar system is important. Mercury dominates its part of the solar system -- it's so hot there that not much can stay intact. Neptune also dominates, because there's nothing else that's nearly as massive at that distance. But Pluto is part of a large class of iceballs that all orbit at a similar distance from the Sun. It's not dominant in the way that the remaining planets are.

[flaminbats]

91. has it?

someone pointed out that Pluto moves more slowly or quickly based on where it is in relation to Neptune. Isn't that true with Mercury? Surely it moves at a different speed when closer to Venus than when at the opposite side of the Sun from Venus!

Again..Mercury doesn't meet my definition of Planet, even if it has a separate orbit. Dwarf Planets IMO should include round objects that are not much larger than the moon, and have little or no significant atmosphere.

But if Mercury can be a planet, why not Pluto? Pluto crosses Neptune's orbit, but IMO that doesn't mean Neptune is not a planet. IMO a planet should have a minimum size, atmosphere, and an orbit around the sun. Otherwise it should fall into one of the other categories!

[Megahurtz]

98. Oh Relax You Guys!

I just think the scientific hair-splitting is a bit ridiculous is all.
Dithering about Pluto because they think it's too small!

I just say leave it alone. Besides, I like Pluto!:)

:silly:

In all seriousness, I think that they should just leave Pluto as is.

After all, it is revolving around the Sun.

Seems like a Planet to me.:shrug:

[Raine]

110. Same here...

scientists are not gods, they don't know everything.

[Megahurtz]

112. Yup. Pluto too small?

Sounds like a personal problem to me!

}(

[salinen]

71. Is nothing sacred?

next they'll be compromising Uranus.

[Megahurtz]

99. Lol!

:D

[Snivi Yllom]

74. cool graphic

[Bill McBlueState]

78. it's about the size of the US

Pretty small, but there are a lot of people living in the US who seem to think we're the only ones on the planet.

[rodeodance]

80. Pluto is with go od company as Xena is a dwawf planet also--she will

protect him (esp. with Gabrelle as her moon)

[Ediacara]

83. Those are, of course, just nicknames

Two official name proposals were sent in, one based on it being a planet, one based on it being a Kuiper Belt object. There was some discussion that if it were decided to be a planet, they would have liked to call it Persephone, even though that name is already taken by a rather unimpotant asteroid. Since it's a Kuiper Belt object, it will probably be named for a mythological creation deity, and from the astronomers have been saying, it sounds like it will be female and non-European.

[FiveGoodMen]

85. A rose by any other name

It's still the same icy rock in the same weird orbit no matter what we call it.

Just saying...

[Placebo]

90. Dammit, Janet! It's a Planet!

:grr:

WE WANT PLUTO!

See, this is what happens when you give liberal wacky scientists and fuzzy foreigner scientists veto power over our goddamn science text books and solar systems!

[MountainMama]

96. Don't worry.....

Soon the aliens will come and tell us what it really is. :P

[CJCRANE]

93. Why do you hate Pluto?

[brentspeak]

95. Holst would've been glad to know that his decision

not to compose a Pluto movement for his "Planets" symphony turned out to be a good one.

[VegasWolf]

104. Scientists decide Bush is not really a president. nt

[Anakin Skywalker]

105. Now What Is Bush Gonna Do?

He was going to conquer it eventually...after Mars, etc. But now that it's no longer a planet, what will our Galactic Emperor do?

[Endangered Specie]

108. I think they realized kicking Pluto out of the club...

would save them ALOT of hassle in the long run, had Pluto been found today it would have never been considered a planet (and its discovery was an accident iirc).

This makes our system much neater:
-Sun
-4 rocky planets with essentially no moons (our Moon is much more of an exception than the rule, as the only other one with moons is Mars and they are small most likely captured asteroids that will eventually fall out of orbit).
-asteroid belt with objects of all sizes
-4 Gas giants with rings and massive numbers of moons
-Kuiper belt with objects of all sizes (Pluto being one of the larger Kuiper belt objects)

But the reality is the solar system itself will always be changing, it is possible for things to come and go and crash into one another, so the current definition is not permanent. Also when one day we are able to better understand what orbits other stars, the definition will most likely change again.

But this is sure better than having 50 to 1000 planets.

[MikeyJones]

109. Right

I wonder how these idiots manage to get the sole rights to deciding that. Let's see what the foreign astronomers say instead of just taking it straight from the Americans and the English scientists.

[VegasWolf]

113. No wonder the aliens never found us! We marked our deep space probes

with pictographs marking us as sentient beings inhabiting a solar system consisting of NINE planets. They must have passed us by repeatably because we only have eight planets.

[DeSwiss]

114. BREAKING.....

News reports just in via space probes from Mars:

A Plutonian delegation has strenuously objected to the planet's demotion. Plutonian Supreme Leader Anthrax Xarhtna said at a press conference:

"All the big planets have always dissed us. Hell, for a long time the Earthlings didn't even know we were out here. And after they found us, its just been downhill ever since. Especially after that Disney guy named that stupid dog of his after us."

The Plutonian government plans to appeal the decision directly to Admiral Jean Luc Picard of the United Federation of Planets, and if unsuccessful they are considering joining other solar systems. A Plexzar-Zozgy Poll recently taken has Plutonians vying for possible contenders:

The Borg - 63% (Because that Seven is just so HOT!!!)
The Kazan - 12% (Mainly objected to by Plutonian barbers and hairdresser unions)
The Dominion - 4% (Favored by Goth teens with bad acne)
Species 8472 - 2% (As a last resort)
Become someone else's moon - 1% (Plutonian Hippies)
Undecided - 18%

Stay tuned for further updates.....

[spacelady]

116. I think Pluto has the right to be grandfathered in as a planet.

Anything else would just be disrespectful.

[eridani]

117. This just in! Pluto's concession speech!

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2006/8/24/102112/777

AP has a transcript of Pluto's concession speech:

Just before coming down to speak with you, I called Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Saturn, Jupiter, Neptune and Uranus and congratulated them on their success today. As I see it, in this campaign, we've just finished the first half and the Classical Planet team is ahead, but in the second half, our team -- Team Pluto -- is going to surge forward to victory.

I am, of course, disappointed by the results, but I am not discouraged. I am not disappointed because I lost my planetary status, but because the old politics of scholarship and intellectual integrity won today.

I expect my opponents will continue to do in the future what they have done today: Belittle me instead of coming up with ideas to avoid having to rewrite science textbooks.

I will continue to offer the astronomers a different path forward to make my Solar system and orbit a better place to live and work, and that's what I want to do for another six million more years.

I know a lot of people in this system, and not just "classical planets", are angry about the direction in which the Solar system is moving, and so am I.

Tomorrow morning, our campaign will file the necessary petition with the International Astronomical Union so that we can continue this campaign for a new astronomy of unity and purpose. I will always do what is right for my orbit and Solar system regardless of what the political consequences may be.

Tomorrow is a brand new day. Tomorrow we launch a new campaign -- Team Pluto -- Asteroids, non-conforming celestial objects and planets.

UPDATE: Dick Cheney has issued a statement:
"Pluto's demotion today is a victory for the terra-ists."

[krispos42]

122. rotflmao

kick ass! :yourock:

[praeclarus]

119. i never really liked Pluto anyway.

Good riddance to the standoffish mofo.

[EnviroBat]

123. Shoot ! And I was hoping to visit there someday...

Poor poor Pluto, I will not forget you.

[EnviroBat]

124. Get rid of it...

Maybe we should nuke it to make way for a real planet then...

[panzerfaust]

125. Ridicule

It would have been nice had astronomers remembered the 'brontosaurus' fiasco of the paleontologists, and taken the less logical, but more intelligent (a word with no more definition than 'planet') course and left Pluto a planet.

My real concern though, is how does this change of effect affect horoscopy and (the science of) astrology?

Mon Dieu! Pluton pas une planète? Ridicule.