They're calling it "Sedna" for the moment.... What kinda horseshit name is that?!? If they want a name, they should use Persephone.
Posted by AndrewR (Member # 44) on :
Australians not Austraillians! Sounds like Tarellians.
Posted by Jason Abbadon (Member # 882) on :
Railians, Australians...all the same. Posted by Veers (Member # 661) on :
Another historic space-related event. If, indeed, this is a planet. There is much more for us to discover up there, I suspect...
Posted by Jason Abbadon (Member # 882) on :
Well...this definitely isint "Planet X". Something with a big gravity well causes Uranus' orbt to slightly "wobble" every now and then.
Posted by MinutiaeMan (Member # 444) on :
The article says that the object is still smaller than Pluto.
Seeing as how Pluto isn't really a planet, I hope that they don't start considering this "Sedna" a planet, either...
Posted by Topher (Member # 71) on :
What ever happened to Quaoar? Posted by Cartman (Member # 256) on :
Still there, but much closer to the sun than this planetoid is, and a good deal smaller.
quote:Originally posted by Topher: What ever happened to Quaoar?
The scientific community realized that was a horrendous name for a solar system planet, and disqualified it from the list as a result.
Really, though, we do need some sort of standard. I'd say Pluto is large enough to be a planet, or at least should be considered one by virtue of having such a large moon. And with its orbit, it's sort of like the eccentric cousin of the solar system, one who I'd hate to see written off.
I'd say we ought to pick an arbitrary value such as 2000km as the minimum planet size. The largest asteroid, for instance, is just 900km, so the extra grand can help keep out most interlopers.
We could bump that up further, of course, so that Pluto is excluded. But, I'd be prone to try to get Pluto in as an exception, perhaps under a "you must have a moon this big to ride" rule.
And, I'd vote that Oort Cloud objects should be disqualified except in extreme circumstances, which should work well with the size limit to keep out planet-wannabes.
Posted by Jason Abbadon (Member # 882) on :
They should just name it Unicron.
Posted by TSN (Member # 31) on :
On the local news tonight, they showed a graphic (probably from NASA or someone) comparing the sizes of Earth's moon, Pluto, Quaoar, and Sedna. So Quaoar hasn't been forgotten. But, really, they ought to just throw the whole lot of them off the planets list. I mean, the only reason Pluto was on there in the first place is that they were looking for a planet out there, and they didn't know about the Kuiper Belt.
Posted by Jason Abbadon (Member # 882) on :
Plus Pluto was probably named after Percival Lowell.
...it's a looong story.
Posted by Ritten (Member # 417) on :
Well, it won't get finished unless you start it....
Posted by Wraith (Member # 779) on :
Sedna? Sounds like an Eastern European car manufacturer.
Posted by Jason Abbadon (Member # 882) on :
quote:Originally posted by Ritten: Well, it won't get finished unless you start it....
First there were the dinosaurs, but they became big and fat, then an asteroid came and wiped them out, then the Arabs came and made oil...
Posted by Cartman (Member # 256) on :
And then The Police wrote a song about it.
Posted by Jason Abbadon (Member # 882) on :
As to the question: Clyde William Tombaugh was following the work to find a large masive planet to account for the "wobble" in some of the outer planets orbits and was working at the Percival Lowell Observatory at that end when he discovered the small planet that would be known as Pluto. It's thought that Tombaugh named the planet after Lowell (that the PL stands for Percival Lowell whose career was somewhat in ruins in his later life after publically stating that mars was cris-rossed with "canals").
Good to see that astronomers can give props to their own. Posted by The359 (Member # 37) on :
quote:Originally posted by Wraith: Sedna? Sounds like an Eastern European car manufacturer.
That's Skoda Posted by B.J. (Member # 858) on :
quote:Originally posted by Jason Abbadon:
quote:Originally posted by Ritten: Well, it won't get finished unless you start it....
First there were the dinosaurs, but they became big and fat, then an asteroid came and wiped them out, then the Arabs came and made oil...
And, Prince Charles started wearing all of Lady Di's clothes. I couldn't believe it, he took her best summer dress out of the closet, and put it on, and went to town!
Posted by Wraith (Member # 779) on :
quote:Originally posted by The359:
quote:Originally posted by Wraith: Sedna? Sounds like an Eastern European car manufacturer.
That's Skoda
Which is owned by Volkswagon, which is German and so not really Eastern European. Posted by Jason Abbadon (Member # 882) on :
Yet.
Posted by AndrewR (Member # 44) on :
quote:Originally posted by Jason Abbadon:
quote:Originally posted by Ritten: Well, it won't get finished unless you start it....
First there were the dinosaurs, but they became big and fat, then an asteroid came and wiped them out, then the Arabs came and made oil...
LOL - is that the gay guy from the "Flying High"/"Airplane" (or what ever it was called in the US) movies?)
Posted by B.J. (Member # 858) on :
quote:Originally posted by AndrewR:
quote:Originally posted by Jason Abbadon:
quote:Originally posted by Ritten: Well, it won't get finished unless you start it....
First there were the dinosaurs, but they became big and fat, then an asteroid came and wiped them out, then the Arabs came and made oil...
LOL - is that the gay guy from the "Flying High"/"Airplane" (or what ever it was called in the US) movies?)
Yes, played by Stephen Stucker - It was called "Airplane!" in the US, but this specific quote came from "Airplane II: The Sequel". Right now, I'm wondering why IMDB lists him in a movie in 1989, but he died in 1986?
B.J.
Posted by Mark Nguyen (Member # 469) on :
How do you pronounce Quaoar, anyway?
Mark <--- NEW-yen
Posted by Jason Abbadon (Member # 882) on :
Andrew gets the penny: it was an Airplane II refrence. Stephen Stucker and lloyd Bridges were great in that.
Posted by Cartman (Member # 256) on :
Aqua Boar. Without the A and the B and the space, of course.
Posted by B.J. (Member # 858) on :
quote:Originally posted by Jason Abbadon: Andrew gets the penny: it was an Airplane II refrence. Stephen Stucker and lloyd Bridges were great in that.
Wait, why does he get the penny when I finished the quote for you? ....grumble grumble grouse....
B.J.
Posted by Jason Abbadon (Member # 882) on :
He gets the penny because I ddint know that was the rest of the quote.
Fine.
A shiny internet penny for you as well for your novel use of the rare "angry emoticon" whereas most Flarites would have opted for the "rolleyes".
Posted by Dat (Member # 302) on :
Mark, I thought it was more like "N-WEN"
Posted by Jason Abbadon (Member # 882) on :
![[Confused]](confused.gif)
![[Big Grin]](biggrin.gif)
Sounds like Tarellians.
![[Wink]](wink.gif)
![[Smile]](smile.gif)
![[Razz]](tongue.gif)
![[Mad]](mad.gif)