Pluto the only world whose moon doesn't orbit around it!

[alex_greene]

What, the fact that it's unexplored to the point where nobody even knew what it looked like till this last month is likely to be a factor in people's interest in it.

That, and that it's the very last unexplored place in our solar system, and one of the oldest, coldest and darkest places to which we will ever go inside the heliopause till we invent Jump drives and go exploring the Kuiper Belt in manned ships.

Best not to confuse fictional technology with reality.

I use the Jump drives phrase as a way of saying "forever."
We're not likely to be sending probes out of the solar system ever again in this century, and none in the direction of Pluto. So think about this. This is an event which will be unique in everybody's lives who is alive today.

 

[simonh]

Fun fact for you. Less than 4% of the IAU attending in 2006 voted for Pluto to be demoted.

A majority of attendees at the conference voted to demote Pluto, but the claim is that the attendees constitute less than 5% of all astonomers. I don't think that's an issue really, conferences like this exist to settle question like this. Also the attendees are partly there to represent their colleagues at the institutions they are delegates from, so on that basis I think it's reasonable that a large section of the astronomical community were represented at the conference even if they didn't attend themselves.

96% of astronomers - 96% of the vested scientific community - had no say in this, and still consider Pluto to be a planet.

That doesn't follow at all. If they didn't have a say, except for individuals that may have commented on the issue we don't know what their oppinion is. You can't just automatically count everyone that didn't vote as being on one particular, arbitrary side of the debate en-masse.

Personaly, I have no skin in this game. It seems pretty well established in the popular conciousness that Pluto is now a dwarf planet and there's no value to me in bucking against that.

Simon Hibbs

 

[Hopeless]

So its New Horizons day!

Today we learn more about Pluto than even Disney dares to mention!

So what do you expect them to announce?

The Outer Planets first Starbucks?!

 

[Condottiere]

I'm told wifi is so bad, you can wait years for the full download.

 

[simonh]

I'm told wifi is so bad, you can wait years for the full download.

I hear the roaming charges are unbelievable.

Simon Hibbs

 

[sideranautae]

error post