Pluto and its moons, or just an asteroid? (24 Jun 2006)

harry · Post by **harry** » Fri Jun 23, 2006 3:32 am

Hello All

Pluto

Has three moons.

Earth has only one, why did we not get more than one.

Pluto is smaller than our moon and yet has three moons. I'm going to complain to the person who made up the Solar System.

http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/newsde ... 29/image/a
http://imgsrc.hubblesite.org/hu/db/2006 ... _print.jpg

Qev · Post by **Qev** » Fri Jun 23, 2006 6:04 am

Actually, Earth has five or more 'moons', although they're a little exotic. First is the Moon, of course, which is big enough to almost qualify the Earth-Moon system as a double planet.

Then there's 3753 Cruithne, which is an asteroid which is tangled up in a 'horseshoe' orbit with the Earth.

There are three other known asteroids which are also caught up in strange resonant orbits with the Earth (two of which apparently 'corkscrew' around Earth's orbital path).

So we've got lots of strange moons, it seems.

orin stepanek · Post by **orin stepanek** » Fri Jun 23, 2006 12:06 pm

Double planet; I like that. Interesting subject matter!!

http://www.windows.ucar.edu/tour/link=/ ... lanet.html

Orin

Galactic Groove · Post by **Galactic Groove** » Fri Jun 23, 2006 1:40 pm

Very cool Qev, i never knew that before. Looking into it further with the links you gave, I found they aren't technically "moons" of Earth. But they do co-orbit the sun with Earth, making occasional close encounters. Their peculiar orbits do make it seem as though they are orbiting Earth, but in reality Earth's gravity is really only affecting their orbit around the Sun.

And thanks harry, I remember the discovery of extra moons around Pluto but that was the extent of what I heard. It's nice to hear more about something I had interest in but had forgotten all about

BMAONE23 · Post by **BMAONE23** » Fri Jun 23, 2006 2:09 pm

They are named Hydra and Nix now

ckam · Post by **ckam** » Fri Jun 23, 2006 2:46 pm

harry wrote:Pluto
Has three moons.
Earth has only one, why did we not get more than one.

I bet my a*s in USA you could file a suit against God for earthlings discrimination, seeking unspecified damages. Then, the jury would probably rule to oblige Him to put extra moons in orbit during next month, so that you could sue again for destructive tides.

Wadsworth · Post by **Wadsworth** » Fri Jun 23, 2006 3:21 pm

ckam wrote:
harry wrote:Pluto
Has three moons.
Earth has only one, why did we not get more than one.
I bet my a*s in USA you could file a suit against God for earthlings discrimination, seeking unspecified damages. Then, the jury would probably rule to oblige Him to put extra moons in orbit during next month, so that you could sue again for destructive tides.

Good ol' US of A.

BMAONE23 · Post by **BMAONE23** » Fri Jun 23, 2006 4:41 pm

Wadsworth,
Welcome to the jungle. To answer the question posed in your signature,
Woman would have to be more complex in mans eyes because we have invented ways to view and attempt to understand the former but the latter can't be seen through the Hubble. (and if we attempt to view the latter through terrestrial telescopes, we get in trouble)

orin stepanek · Post by **orin stepanek** » Fri Jun 23, 2006 4:41 pm

Then there's Jupiter and Saturn that have more moons than you can shake a stick at.

Orin

BMAONE23 · Post by **BMAONE23** » Fri Jun 23, 2006 7:26 pm

http://www.jhuapl.edu/newscenter/pressr ... bit_lg.jpg

This is a great created image of the system.

harry · Post by **harry** » Fri Jun 23, 2006 11:34 pm

Hello All

Why even attempt to understand the manner of woman.

Thats why God put them on Venus

and let man with a cold shower on Mars.

Nick · Post by **Nick** » Sat Jun 24, 2006 8:10 am

Soon Pluto could be declassified as a planet to an asteroid or Kuiper Belt Object (at the IAU meeting in August I think), or lots of other things could be included as planets - including by one definition our moon and numerous moons of the gas giants.

Anyone going to start a sweep for guessing the number of eventual planets we have?

Nick

P.S. Does anyone remember a BBC childrens tv quiz last Christmas where 10 planets was given as the correct answer? I thought it was still officially 9...

harry · Post by **harry** » Sat Jun 24, 2006 8:52 am

Hello Nick

I thik Pluto will remain as the 9Th planet.

It has tooooooooooo much history.

ckam · Post by **ckam** » Sat Jun 24, 2006 12:26 pm

harry wrote:...woman... put them on Venus

yeah, that will warm them up a little.

randall cameron · Post by **randall cameron** » Sat Jun 24, 2006 12:31 pm

Tradition!

Harry is probably right. Hard to break old habits, even for the IAU.

Personally, I agree with Nick. Pluto should be classified as a KBO, since its characteristics (small, icy, highly eccentric and out of plane orbit) put it solidly in that category. "Planet" should be formally defined to include only rocky or gas giant bodies with near circular, in-plane, primary solar orbits, of sufficient size to be gravitationally compressed into roughly spherical form. Mercury should roughly define the baseline for maximum eccentricity, although size could certainly go lower.

As noted by Nick, under my definition, Earth - Moon might be a double planet. None of the gas giant satellites would qualify, though, because they primarily orbit their (vastly more massive) planets, not the sun. Earth and Moon have an unusual co-orbital relationship because of their relatively similar size, plus the fact that Earth does not have any other satellites of its own.

I would be interested in hearing more opinions from our esteemed community, including definitions of planet that might include Pluto.

Pete · Post by **Pete** » Sat Jun 24, 2006 2:56 pm

BMAONE23 wrote:http://www.jhuapl.edu/newscenter/pressr ... bit_lg.jpg

This is a great created image of the system.

Nice. Looks like that screenshot was taken in Celestia, a space simulation in which you can fly basically anywhere in the observable universe.

harry wrote:Why even attempt to understand the manner of woman.

Thats why God put them on Venus

This is extremely troubling news to me.

harry · Post by **harry** » Sun Jun 25, 2006 1:11 am

Hello Pete

Whats the problem?

Pete · Post by **Pete** » Sun Jun 25, 2006 1:48 am

Well, if all the women are on Venus, let's just say I have some rather important questions to ask my "girl"friend...

All right, it was a joke! I don't have a girlfriend.

harry · Post by **harry** » Sun Jun 25, 2006 3:11 am

Hello Pete

Thats why God created the computer.

Email her your thoughts.

And that cyber thing, that everybody talks about.

ta152h0 · Post by **ta152h0** » Sun Jun 25, 2006 5:00 am

Now that Hubble decided to sleep, we may never know the orbit of the two new moons..........at least for another ten years or so. hey NASA, build us another Hubble. 8)

harry · Post by **harry** » Sun Jun 25, 2006 10:44 am

Hello

They will have mr hubble back on his feet in no time.

It will give us time to catch up on the discussions.

orin stepanek · Post by **orin stepanek** » Mon Jun 26, 2006 2:14 pm

harry wrote:Hello

They will have mr hubble back on his feet in no time.

It will give us time to catch up on the discussions.

I hope your right Harry! I really enjoy the beaetiful space veiws that Hubble gives to the world.
Orin

ckam · Post by **ckam** » Mon Jun 26, 2006 3:58 pm

harry wrote:And that cyber thing, that everybody talks about.

That is correctly called "jerking off the IM".

Do you know that story about onanist diary?

Mon, today I did it with my right hand. Oh that's great uhhh ahhh...
Wed, today I did it with my left hand. Damn, that su(ks.
Fri, today I did it with a woman. That's even worse than my left hand.

Wadsworth · Post by **Wadsworth** » Mon Jun 26, 2006 11:31 pm

I hadn't realized the main Hubble scope was down. That's no good.

As far as women and the universe.. It's all in the eyes of the beholder.

harry · Post by **harry** » Tue Jun 27, 2006 9:35 am

Hello All

Woman

and deep field study

and Black Holes go hand in hand.

OK!!!!!!!!!! enough of woman.

History shows us that, that type of thinking takes our focus away from the main event.

Lucky I'm an ALIEN

Starship Asterisk*

Pluto and its moons, or just an asteroid? (24 Jun 2006)

Pluto and its moons, or just an asteroid? (24 Jun 2006)

Re: Pluto and its moons

Re: Pluto and its moons

Re: Pluto and its moons

Pluto and it's moons or an asteroid with lots of others?

now that