[meteorite-list] 'Plutons' Push Planet Total Up To 12

From: Sterling K. Webb <sterling_k_webb_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Wed Aug 16 20:32:16 2006
Message-ID: <07d001c6c194$936d4410$6b7f4b44_at_ATARIENGINE>

Hi, E.P., List


    Clyde was a great guy. Mike Brown's probably a great
guy, too. He's done a great job of finding, at any rate.

    The Minor Planet numbers are all over the System and
have been for decades. Orcus, Quaoar, and Sedna all have
Minor Planet numbers, the Trojans, Chiron, an "asteroid"
that goes all the way out to Oortville with an aphelion of
over 1000 AU. They're everywhere.


Sterling K. Webb
--------------------------------------------------------------
----- Original Message -----
From: "E.P. Grondine" <epgrondine_at_yahoo.com>
To: "Larry Lebofsky" <lebofsky_at_lpl.arizona.edu>
Cc: <meteorite-list_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Sent: Wednesday, August 16, 2006 6:35 PM
Subject: Re: [meteorite-list] 'Plutons' Push Planet Total Up To 12


> Hi all -
>
> Everybody loved Clyde, so they don't want to take the
> honor of discovering a planet away from him. But for
> the future, making him the discoverer of the first KBO
> would not be that much of a demotion, and might be a
> raise - that is the FIRST KBO.
>
> Minor Planets are those located between Mars and
> Jupiter at some point in their orbits, plus a few that
> are betweeen the Earth and Jupiter.
>
> I hope this clears everything up.
>
> Now while they're all together there, do any of these
> guys and gals know where the 64 fragments of
> Schwassmann Wachmann 3 are going to be in 2022?
>
> good hunting,
> Ed
>
>
>
> --- Larry Lebofsky <lebofsky_at_lpl.arizona.edu> wrote:
>
>> Hi Chris:
>>
>> Since your two posts on this subjsetc, I think some
>> of the responders have
>> gotten a little out of hand and think that they know
>> more than everyone else.
>>
>> 1. This is the second committee to have dealt with
>> the issue of determining a
>> definition of a planet.
>>
>> 2. A lot of the discussion of the second committee
>> was based heavily on what
>> the first committee did.
>>
>> 3. A lot of effort was put into the formation of
>> this committee to get a
>> crosssection of the community from a variety of
>> countries and included a
>> premier science writer and an astronomy historian.
>> To some of you listening, do
>> you think that in the two or three milliseconds that
>> you thought about what was
>> proposed by this IAU committee that you are better
>> qualified to come up with a
>> solution?
>>
>> 4. Now that I have vented my splean, I will respond
>> to your emails, Chris.
>>
>> 5. Yes, the IAU does have the authority to make such
>> decisions! They are the
>> organization recognized by ALL astronomers as the
>> organization who can do such
>> things. They OK the names of asteroids and comets
>> and are the organization who
>> came up with the 88 constellations that we have
>> today.
>>
>> 6. Which brings me back to your second (I think)
>> email. First a side note to
>> Ed, I think (am losing track of the emails, I dumped
>> enough on Sterling).
>> Granted there are only 7 continents and 7 seas,
>> should we limit ourselves to 9
>> US states because that is all you can remember or 9
>> countries (I will not go
>> there)?
>>
>> 7. I have spent nearly two decades doing science
>> education (3.5 doing science)
>> and one of the most important things that we can
>> teach are kids is that science
>> is dynamic and that numbers change. When I grew up
>> there were 32 moons in the
>> Solar System and no extra solar planets (and no
>> Kuiper Belt Objects). However,
>> I have changes what I teach as we learn more. That
>> is the true nature of
>> science. If you were teaching in 1930 would you have
>> left the Solar System with
>> 8 planets? or in the early 1700s, kept the Solar
>> System at 6 planets?
>> Traditionally, the Earth is the center of the
>> universe, why not let well enough
>> alone? Get a little off track, sorry.
>>
>> 8. A lot of effort and a lot of thought went into
>> this decision both from a
>> SCIENTIFIC (not technical) perspective and from an
>> historical perspective. I
>> know all of the people on the first committee and
>> many of the people on the
>> second one and I have respect for them and for their
>> decision. While this is
>> only a proposal to the IAU General Assembly and may
>> change before next week
>> (doubt there will be much of a change), I think that
>> you are doing a disservice
>> to your students by telling them that there are only
>> nine planets (it is all
>> over the news, how can they miss it).
>>
>> Chris, if you want to continue this discussion
>> offline, please feel free to
>> contact me.
>>
>> Larry
>>
>>
>> --
>> Dr. Larry A. Lebofsky
>> Senior Research Scientist
>> Co-editor, Meteorite "If you
>> give a man a fish,
>> Lunar and Planetary Laboratory you
>> feed him for a day.
>> 1541 East University If you
>> teach a man to fish,
>> University of Arizona you
>> feed him for a lifetime."
>> Tucson, AZ 85721-0063
>> ~Chinese Proverb
>> Phone: 520-621-6947
>> FAX: 520-621-8364
>> e-mail: lebofsky_at_lpl.arizona.edu
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Received on Wed 16 Aug 2006 08:32:09 PM PDT