[meteorite-list] Fourth Dwarf Planet Named Makemake

From: Sterling K. Webb <sterling_k_webb_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Tue, 22 Jul 2008 13:47:32 -0500
Message-ID: <050a01c8ec2b$6734c6c0$db5de146_at_ATARIENGINE>

Hi, Larry, List,

Larry wrote:
> ...ALL objects brighter than a certain level (implying size)
> were to be defined as plutoids, and that implies there are
> about 40 other known plutoids, not just 4.

    The level specified was an absolute magnitude (H) of +1.0
and that is the factor that restricts the list of "plutoids" to four
possible bodies, not 8 nor 40. Pluto, Eris, Makemake are
officially "plutoids." 2003EL61 should be a "plutoid" but
they're taking their sweet time about saying so; it has an H
of +0.17. My personal belief is that they want to kick it out
because they think it's not round enough...

    They have had a name under consideration for 2003 EL61
for a long time, but have not acted. But as for the others --
I call them the "Plutoid Seven" -- you can forget about Sedna
and Ouaoar and Orcus and Ixion and Varuna and
(55565) 2002 AW197 and (84522) 2002 TC302. Their H
is dimmer than +1.0, but intrinsically brighter than Ceres
(at H +3.36), hence they are presumptively round, and meet
all other criteria.

    The relatively sane thing to do would have been to set the
"plutoid" limit at the absolutute magnitude of Ceres, since
Ceres is clearly beach-ball-like and its albedo is the same as the
average TNO. Why would they not set the "H limit" at +3.36,
as planetary evidence of a known round ice-rock world would
suggest?

    Well...

    You can get rid of a helluva lot more "planets" that way!
(It's a clever move...) It also reduces the number of dwarf
planets to five -- Ceres and the four "Plutoids," of which
only three are officially recognized). That way, eventually
all this planet furor will die down. They will have gotten rid
of Pluto and nobody is going to remember all that silly stuff
about some laughing-stock "dwarf" planets. To call something
a "dwarf planet" is essentially an invitation to forget it.

    "What's a dwarf planet?" the kids ask. "Well, it's a kind
of asteroid, I guess... Forget about them, and let's just
concentrate on the eight planets," says the teacher.

    The committee is essentially gambling that all brightest
objects have been discovered and is getting ready to fold
their cards and let dwarf planets become a footnote which
will be forgotten by the public, but having managed to dump
Pluto, which was all they really wanted to do all along, you
know.


Sterling K. Webb
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
----- Original Message -----
From: <lebofsky at lpl.arizona.edu>
To: "Ron Baalke" <baalke at zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>
Cc: "Meteorite Mailing List" <meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com>
Sent: Monday, July 21, 2008 7:52 PM
Subject: Re: [meteorite-list] Fourth Dwarf Planet Named Makemake


This is the first time, as far as I can tell, that an IAU press release
actually says that plutoids are a subset of dwarf planets. If you ask the
right people (and refer back to the original defining of dwarf planets),
in the IAU resolution, it states that: "An IAU process will be established
to select a name for this category." They did this with the creation of
plutoids, but never referred back to the original resolution, and never
actually said that plutoids were transneptunian dwarf planets.

Now, this is officially stated.

However, when the term plutoid was announced, it stated that ALL objects
brighter than a certain level (implying size) were to be defined as
plutoids, and that implies there are about 40 other known plutoids, not
just 4. Are they backing down on this until they have more information on
these other objects?

Larry


On Mon, July 21, 2008 5:31 pm, Ron Baalke wrote:
>

>
> International Astronomical Union
> Paris, France
>
>
> For more information, please contact:
>
>
> Dr. Edward L.G. Bowell
> IAU Division III President
> Lowell Observatory, USA
> Tel: +1-928-774-3358
>
>
> Mike Brown
> Professor of Planetary Astronomy
> California Institute of Technology
> Phone: +1-626-395-8423
>
>
> Lars Lindberg Christensen
> IAU Press Officer
> ESA/Hubble, Garching, Germany
> Phone: +49-89-32-00-63-06
>
>
> Jul 19, 2008
>
>
> News Release: IAU0806
>
>
> Fourth dwarf planet named Makemake
>
>
> The International Astronomical Union (IAU) has given the name Makemake to
> the newest member of the family of dwarf planets -- the object formerly
> known as 2005 FY9 -- after the Polynesian creator of humanity and the god
> of fertility.
>
> Members of the International Astronomical Union's Committee on Small Body
> Nomenclature (CSBN) and the IAU Working Group for Planetary System
> Nomenclature (WGPSN) have decided to name the newest member of the plutoid
> family Makemake, and have classified it as the fourth dwarf planet in
> our Solar System and the third plutoid.
>
>
> Makemake (pronounced MAH-keh MAH-keh) is one of the largest objects known
> in the outer Solar System and is just slightly smaller and dimmer than
> Pluto,
> its fellow plutoid. The dwarf planet is reddish in colour and astronomers
> believe the surface is covered by a layer of frozen methane.
>
> Like other plutoids, Makemake is located in a region beyond Neptune that
> is populated with small Solar System bodies (often referred to as the
> transneptunian region). The object was discovered in 2005 by a team from
> the California Institute of Technology led by Mike Brown and was
> previously known as 2005 FY9 (or unofficially "Easterbunny"). It has the
> IAU Minor
> Planet Center designation (136472). Once the orbit of a small Solar System
> body or candidate dwarf planet is well determined, its provisional
> designation (2005 FY9 in the case of Makemake) is superseded by its
> permanent numerical designation (136472) in the case of Makemake.
>
> The discoverer of a Solar System object has the privilege of suggesting a
> name to the IAU, which judges its suitability. Mike Brown says: "We
> consider the naming of objects in the Solar System very carefully.
> Makemake's surface
> is covered with large amounts of almost pure methane ice, which is
> scientifically fascinating, but really not easily relatable to
> terrestrial mythology. Suddenly, it dawned on me: the island of Rapa Nui.
> Why hadn't I
> thought of this before? I wasn't familiar with the mythology of the island
> so I had to look it up, and I found Makemake, the chief god, the creator
> of humanity, and the god of fertility. I am partial to fertility gods.
> Eris,
> Makemake, and 2003 EL61 were all discovered as my wife was 3-6 months
> pregnant with our daughter. I have the distinct memory of feeling this
> fertile abundance pouring out of the entire Universe. Makemake was part
> of that." WGPSN and CSBN accepted the name Makemake during discussions
> conducted per email.
>
> Makemake holds an important place in the Solar System because it, along
> with Eris and 2003 EL61, was one of the objects whose discovery prompted
> the IAU to reconsider the definition of a planet and to create the new
> group of dwarf planets. Visually, it is the second brightest
> transneptunian object, following after Pluto, and is bright enough to be
> seen through a high-end amateur telescope (a peak magnitude of roughly
> 16.5). Mike Brown explains:
> "The orbit is not particularly strange, but the object itself is big.
> Probably about 2/3 the size of Pluto."
>
>
> The other three dwarf planets are Ceres, Pluto and Eris. However, Ceres
> is not a member of the distinctive plutoid group because its orbit is
> smaller than Neptune's (Ceres is located in the asteroid belt between Mars
> and Jupiter).
>
>
> The word Makemake is Polynesian in origin and is the name of the creator
> of humanity and the god of fertility in the mythology of the South Pacific
> island of Rapa Nui or the Easter Island. He was the chief god of the
> Tangata
> manu bird-man cult and was worshiped in the form of sea birds, which were
> his incarnation. His material symbol was a man with a bird's head.
>
> Notes
>
>
> The IAU is the international astronomical organisation that brings
> together almost 10,000 distinguished astronomers from all nations of the
> world. Its mission is to promote and safeguard the science of astronomy in
> all its aspects through international cooperation. The IAU also serves as
> the internationally recognised authority for assigning designations to
> celestial bodies and the surface features on them. Founded in 1919, the
> IAU is the
> world's largest professional body for astronomers.
>
> Links
>
>
> * Information about Pluto and the other dwarf planets
> http://www.iau.org/public_press/themes/pluto/
> * IAU website
> http://www.iau.org/
> * Scientific paper estimating the size of Makemake
> http://arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0702538v1
>
>
> [NOTE: An image supporting this release is available at
> http://www.iau.org/static/archives/images/screen/iau0806a.jpg (107KB) ]
>
>
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Received on Tue 22 Jul 2008 02:47:32 PM PDT