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The 12 Planets

Cotuit

By Cotuit
in The Coffee House

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Gusterfell Burg

Gusterfell

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Ive also heard of the theory of a planet in or solar system that exist no more. I heard the astroid belt between Earth and Mars is whats left of the planet.

I've heard it as this is material that was prevented from coming together as a planet by the gravitiational influenceof Jupiter.

Speaking of binary star systems, there are astronomers who believe that Jupiter is actually a "failed" star... one that didn't have quite enough mass to begin fusion. It has even been found to give off a slight amount of light of its own, unlike other planets, which merely reflect sunlight. If this theory is true, it would mean that our solar system was once on the verge of being a binary system.

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Charlotteman Burg

Charlotteman

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I've heard the same thing about Jupiter---that it failed to gain enough mass to become a star, but could have.

I read once that a life form as we know it couldn't get any closer than 25,000 miles from Jupiter's cloud tops. Death would be certain because the radiation is so overwhelming. Think of it--an enormous planet giving off a huge radiation!

By the way I think Xena and Gabrielle are cool names! Planetary names don't have to be stuck in ancient mythology, do they:)

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MR-2 Hamlet

MR-2

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Between Mars and Jupiter. That's where Ceres and the other large asteroid that may become planets are.

None of the other asteroids are eligeable. Ceres is the only one large enough. The others are all potatos.

Sedna would definitely become a planet under this system. Several KBOs would also become planets.

I'm fine with it. It's true, having enough gravity to consistently form a sphere defines a planet. How large that sphere is doesn't matter too much. All spheres tend to behave the same, just each on a different scale.

I'm not a big fan of the double-planet definition. Our moon would become a planet after millions of years, once the orbital barycenter extends outside earth. It puts too much emphasis on the density of the primary planet; a more dense planet of the same mass will be more likely to have a barycenter outside its crust. Functionably, the systems are the same. A satellite shouldn't gain any special status just because of the chemistry of its host planet. I, personally, think the larger object in a group of planets should be considered 'the planet'. Otherwise we just add needless complexity to the nomenclature.

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MR-2 Hamlet

MR-2

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^^I agree.

Calling Charon a planet is a bit of a stretch isn't it?

Well, it is. It's big enough, and it orbits the Sun. But it is still a secondary member in the 'Pluto' planetary system.

The same way Ganymede, Callisto, Io, and Europa are secondary planets in the 'Jupiter' system. They are planets, they just happen to be orbiting a much larger planet. So we call them satellites, otherwise we'd have a whole load of other planets.

If all the satellites large enough to be planets were considered such, we'd have 16 more planets. I find it simpler just to call them 'satellites' or 'secondary planets' in their respective planetary systems, with the largest planet in the system taking the name of the entire system.

Saturn is the Saturn system. It's like a mini solar system, with little asteroid belts, comets, and a few planets in it.

Pluto is the Pluto system. One of its members happens to be large with respect to it, but it is still the Pluto system. 2 planets in the system still counts as 1 system. And it functions also like a mini solar system, with small moons (Nix and Hydra) and a planet sized moon (Charon).

Adding more categories to satellites than that makes things annoying. Calling it the 'Pluto-Charon' system is fine, if they want to, but still only count it as 1 planet. It still functions as one gravitational entity orbiting the sun, not two.

So we have 11 confirmed planets, and 4 others on the way probably.

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AuLukey Town

AuLukey

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Well, we kinda have had a pattern.

Earth? It always kinda sticks out in the lineup.

On a similar but seperate subject, if and when we start to put colonies on Mars and the Moon, would there be borders between different countries' colonies? Would the colonies declare independence? Would they be set up to have their own governments from the start? I mean, it seems 17th century to ask those sorts of questions, but really, I would assume the European colonization of America would be repeated, only on a much larger scale. Assuming NASA doesn't shut down and China and India continue their pursuit of space travel, I wouldn't hesitate to say we will see the start of this sort of stuff before we die.

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Charlotteman Burg

Charlotteman

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^^^ LOL!

I believe astrologers have already been referring to the Pluto system as "Pluto/Charon". I think that is a perfect moniker for the system. Not Pluto, a planet AND Chiron, a planet.

Of course it won't happen in my lifetime, but wouldn't it be fabulous to be alive when man first walks on Pluto!

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Cadeho City

Cadeho

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Earth? It always kinda sticks out in the lineup.

On a similar but seperate subject, if and when we start to put colonies on Mars and the Moon, would there be borders between different countries' colonies? Would the colonies declare independence? Would they be set up to have their own governments from the start? I mean, it seems 17th century to ask those sorts of questions, but really, I would assume the European colonization of America would be repeated, only on a much larger scale. Assuming NASA doesn't shut down and China and India continue their pursuit of space travel, I wouldn't hesitate to say we will see the start of this sort of stuff before we die.

Well it is home, that's why it sticks out! :P It's also named after a Roman goddess.

I hope human nature wouldn't be taken to other planets. Then we'd really have Star Wars.

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AuLukey Town

AuLukey

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Hey, I got lucky. I went to public school in Chapel Hill mostly.

Well, getting off topic, I did go to Cabarrus county schools during their glory days, so I guess I'm lucky too. I just don't recall being taught that Earth was a Roman goddess.

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Neo City

Neo

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Unfortunately we now have only 8 planets in our solar system as Pluto was officially demoted this morning:

http://space.com/scienceastronomy/060824_p...definition.html

This is literally one for the history books and one I personally think is absurd since Pluto has always been considered a planet. Here is Pluto's new category:

Dwarf Planets: Pluto and any other round object that "has not cleared the neighborhood around its orbit, and is not a satellite."

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dimebag1980 Metropolis

dimebag1980

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Unfortunately we now have only 8 planets in our solar system as Pluto was officially demoted this morning:

http://space.com/scienceastronomy/060824_p...definition.html

This is literally one for the history books and one I personally think is absurd since Pluto has always been considered a planet. Here is Pluto's new category:

Dwarf Planets: Pluto and any other round object that "has not cleared the neighborhood around its orbit, and is not a satellite."

Ahhh... beat to the draw! :D I was just coming here to post that same article, but Neo's obviously on top of things this morning! :P

Very interesting, considering this topic is about the "12 planets." Much contradiction on this science, that's for sure.

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Cadeho City

Cadeho

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Maybe I got it wrong, but I am sure I read that book right that said Earth was Roman and Gaia was Greek. Or maybe it's both Gaia but she was the goddess of Earth. Yeah the word Earth didn't come from the ancient Romans. Also I guess Terra Mater was too much of a name for an 8 year old to learn back in the dark ages.

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