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posted by janrinok on Sunday July 19 2015, @05:52AM   Printer-friendly
from the we-changed-the-rules,-we-can-change-them-back-again dept.

After nearly a decade in the wilderness of celestial classification, Pluto is on the rise again. In 2006, the International Astronomical Union (IAU) voted to adopt a new definition of what makes a body a planet, and to specifically demote Pluto to the status of dwarf planet. Now, with new data and images streaming in from New Horizons showing that Pluto is not only a little larger than previously thought, but also home to some remarkable geological features (including what may be some of the solar system's youngest mountain peaks, reaching to 11,000 ft/3,353 m high), many are saying it's time to restore the ninth planet to its previous station.

Perhaps not surprisingly, some of the most prominent advocates for Pluto are scientists working on the New Horizons mission, which reached the closest point of its long-awaited Pluto fly-by on July 14.

"We are free to call it a planet right now," Philip Metzger, a planetary scientist on the New Horizons mission, told DW.com. "Science is not decided by votes ... the planetary science community has never stopped calling bodies like Pluto 'planets'."

Really, isn't it time to re-classify Pluto as a dog?


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  • (Score: 2) by Gravis on Sunday July 19 2015, @12:23PM

    by Gravis (4596) on Sunday July 19 2015, @12:23PM (#211026)

    I've been trying to explain that if someone sends something to Pluto slow enough to land, they won't be alive to witness the landing.

    obviously you have not considered all the interesting technologies that could be used to stop when travelling at ridiculous speeds. specifically, you have not considered a probe made of technology that has yet to be created. seriously, the Stargate SG-1 replicators are a great example of technology that can withstand a catastrophic impact. obviously you want really small blocks and if a few survive, they could rebuild the rest of the probe. so really, the goal is to smush your probe onto the surface with minimal dispersal. even if the probe bursts into a trillion pieces and takes five years to reassemble enough of itself to contact home, it still better than nothing. i'm not saying that replicators are the answer, i'm saying there are many technologies that you have not even considered and some not even conceived yet that could do the job.

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  • (Score: 2, Touché) by jdavidb on Monday July 20 2015, @02:39AM

    by jdavidb (5690) on Monday July 20 2015, @02:39AM (#211254) Homepage Journal
    Sounds great to me, but those don't exist yet. FTL travel would be wonderful, too.
    --
    ⓋⒶ☮✝🕊 Secession is the right of all sentient beings
    • (Score: 2) by Gravis on Monday July 20 2015, @11:30AM

      by Gravis (4596) on Monday July 20 2015, @11:30AM (#211373)

      this is far more realistic than FTL anything.