Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - August 25, 2006, Winnipeg, Manitoba A16 space Winnipeg free press Friday August 25, 2006 Pluto put in celestial Doghouse new guidelines downsize solar system to 8 planets by William j. Kole the god of the underworld ? does to make the Grade under the new rules for a planet a celestial body that is in Prague czech Republic ? leading astronomers declared yesterday that Pluto was no orbit around the Sun has sufficient mass for its self Gravity to overcome rigid body forces so that it assumes longer a planet under historic new nearly round shape and has cleared guidelines that downsize the solar sys tem from nine planets to eight. The neighbourhood around its Pluto is automatically disqualified after a tumultuous week of clashing because its Oblong orbit overlaps with Over the essence of the Cosmos the Neptune a. International astronomical Union instead it will be reclassified in a stripped Pluto of the planetary status it new category of Dwarf planets Sim has held since its discovery in 1930. The new definition of what is ? and Ilar to what Long have been termed minor the definition also in to ? a planet fills a centuries old lays out a third class of lesser objects Black Hole for scientists who have that orbit the Sun ? Small solar sys Laboured since Copernicus without one. Tem bodies a term that will apply to the historic vote officially shrinks numerous asteroids comets and other Earth a neighbourhood from the traditional nine planets to eight. But the Sci natural satellites. Experts said there could be dozens dentists made Clear they re As of Dwarf planets catalogued across the sentimental As anyone about the ninth Rock from the Sun. Solar system in the next few years ? handing the worlds school teachers a Jocelyn Bell Burnell ? a specialist Challenge. In Neutron stars from Northern Ireland Neil Crumpton a science teacher at who oversaw the proceedings in Moun Fitchet High school in Stansted Prague ? urged those who might be Moun Fitchet North of London called quite disappointed to look on the Bright Side. The announcement very to be honest this has been brewing it could be argued that we Are Cre for a while. Pluto has always been a rating an umbrella called planet under which the Dwarf planets exist she Bone of Contention among astronomers because of the Odd Way it orbits the said drawing laughter by waving a Sun Crumpton said. For a Start Well stuffed Pluto of Walt Disney Fame beneath a real umbrella. Later she have to change All the mnemonics we use to teach children the lineup of the hugged the doll As she stood at the dais. Planets. But Pluto has not disappeared Many More plutos wait to be Dis covered added Richard Binzel a pro and it does to Hurt children to know about Fessor of planetary science at the Nasa said yesterday that Pluto a Massachusetts Institute of tech nolo demotion would not affect its $700-mil? by. Lion new horizons spacecraft Mission the decision by the International which earlier this year began a 9 1/2? group spells out the Basic tests that celestial objects will have to meet year journey to the oddball object to unearth More of its secrets. Before they can be considered for we will continue pursuing expo admission to the elite cosmic club. Ration of the most scientifically inter for now membership will be Esting objects in the solar system restricted to the eight classical plan regardless of How they Are cat ego ets in the solar system Mercury Venus Earth Mars Jupiter Saturn sized Paul Hertz chief scientist for the science Mission directorate said in uranus and Neptune. A statement. Much maligned Pluto ? named for ? associated press debate flares around world average Joes Quick to join argument by Glenn Johnson the decision by the tall foreheads in Prague to strip Pluto of its status As a planet reverberated across the Galaxy and in cyberspace like a solar storm. Scientists tossed aside Pluto As a classical planet after a debate yesterday where tempers erupted like solar flares among members of the Alan Stern Leader of Nasa a new horizons Mission to Pluto told . Robert Britt managing editor of live science and senior science writer International astronomical Union. News websites blogs and airwaves for , told can West news service the decision leaves were immediately jammed with astronomers and average Joes arguing the merits of leaving tradition alone and relegating the tiny orbiting body to the ranks of Dwarf planets ? or perhaps More politically Correct Planeta Rily Pluto is dead Mike Brown an astronomer with the California inst astronomers in a real the astronomers Are arguing among themselves already and its quite heated Britt said from his office in Phoenix ariz., adding he under stands a petition among astronomers to bring Pluto Back into the planetary fold May already be orbiting in scientific circles. He said the new definition of tute of technology proclaimed during a teleconference. One blogger identified As Daveon Natick want quite As emotional i was never a big fan of Pluto. To me it always seemed cold now teachers will have to wrestle with its new designation and Pencil in Dwarf planet in the countless text books that have listed it for generations As our furthest planetary body. Not All scientists welcomed the Deci Sion to punt Pluto into the newly planets limits their chances of Success. Pluto a tiny body with a diameter of 1,430 Miles 2,288 Kilometres has been a planet for seven decades after being discovered in 1930 by a 24-year?old astronomer named Clyde Tombaugh. It takes nearly 250 of our years to make a single circuit around the Sun. While Earth is 93 million Miles away from the Sun Pluto averages a Dis Tance of 3.67 billion Miles away. Defined group of Small cosmic bodies. I a embarrassed for astronomy ? can West news service ninth Rock plagued by galactic grumbling by William j. Kole Prague czech Republic ? its smaller than Earth a Moon has a Funky Way of orbiting the Sun and lurks so far out on the fringes of the solar system even the powerful Hubble space Telescope has to squint to see it. Pluto is no stranger to controversy. In fact its been dogged by disputes Ever since its discovery in 1930. Many astronomers contend the ninth Rock from the Sun ? officially Down graded to Dwarf planet status yester Day by the International astronomical Union ? never deserved to be a full planet in the first place. They Are just saying officially what we had been hinting to children anyway that Pluto is very different from other planets said Cedric Courson program director in Paris for planet sciences an association that promotes science at schools and among the Public with sup port from the French education ministry. Discovered by Clyde Tombaugh of Arizona a Lowell Observatory Pluto was classified As a planet because scientists initially believed it was the same size As Pluto the International Union said pub Earth. It remained one because for Lily in 1999 that rumours of Pluto a years it was the Only known object in imminent demise were greatly exam the Kuiper Belt an enigmatic zone grated and there were no plans to kick beyond Neptune that a teeming with it out of the cosmic club. Comets and other planetary objects. A year later the Hayden planetarium Pluto got an ego boost in 1978 when it at new Yorks american museum of Nat was found to have a Moon that was later ural history was accused of snubbing named Charon. The Hubble turned up Pluto by excluding it from a solar sys two More which this past june were tem exhibition. Christened Nix and Hydra. Pluto took another hit after Michael but in the 1990s, More powerful Tele Brown of the California Institute of Scopes revealed numerous bodies Simi technology discovered 2003 ub313, a Lar to Pluto in the neighbourhood. New slightly larger Kuiper Belt object. Observations also showed that Pluto a what a the Point some astronomers won orbit was Oblong sending it soaring Well dered in keeping Pluto As a planet above and beyond the main plane of the the Public is not going to like the fact solar system where Earth and the other that Pluto has just been kicked out seven planets Circle the Sun. Brown said yesterday. But its the right that prompted some galactic Grum thing to do bling from astronomers who began openly attacking Pluto a plane Hood. At one Point things looked so bad for ? associated press blog debate the scientists might believe debate is closed but that a not the Case in blog space ? the final Frontier of Public opinion. Even if Pluto had been accorded True planetary status it would always have been regarded As a Low ? George Musser. Eight planets is of. And dropping a body which shared its name with a Stu pid cartoon dog from the list of planets is Fine by ? Pablo Miguez. Its the right decision. There Are prob ably hundreds if not thousands of plutos out there. If the word planet is to remain significant to have to put Pluto in the ? Jim Oliver. What kind of times Are we living in that people can just decide to rip a planet of its plane Hood ? Michael Van Der Galien ? can West news service ;