h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Thank you, Potholer.

So, Pluto is the most eccentric planet...has it considered joining hootoo?

RF

LB current theory thinks that Charon wasn't formed in a similar collision as the the Moon was with the Earth, it was probably formed in a normal way, dust and rock accumulation.
GodBen, Pluto is a planet. As someone else metioned, planet is a purely arbitrary designation and the International Astronomical Convention decided once and for all that it was in 1999. Whether it should be is a different argument.
I think as the Moon moves futher and further away its bid for planet status will improve, its certainly worthy

The church used to say the world was round. It wasn't.

The IAC says that Pluto is a planet. It isn't

But then, it isn't hard to define what 'round' means.

The church wasn't in a postion to determine the physical parameters of the Earth. The IAC are in a postion to say whether something is a planet because they don't need to justify it, if they say it ia a planet it is a planet because it is their decision to make

Sorry about all the typos, I'm very tired

AH HA back to "roundness" see i knew it i was right!

*turns around, pickes up clip board, puts on white coat and wanders over to the lab door, well thats the unverse sorted out,next i'm going to turn my attention to "The Meaning of Life"*

And the US supreme court said that Bush was elected fairly. And they have authority over such matters. They were still wrong.

I am a god, and I say that Pluto is a planet. So there.

RF

(Look at my name)

So am I. Pluto is not a planet.

Yes but the IAC, unlike the US Supreme Court, showed no bias in it's decision

You're the god of door knobs, eunuchs and car dealerships, not deciding whether celestial bodies are planets or otherwise. I, on the other hand, am an all-purpose god, and this is one of my purposes.

So there.

RF

They did if they said that Pluto is a planet.

Kühl

No they didn't. They have yet to publish their definition of what is a planet, so if they decide Pluto is a planet, they are showing no more bias than when they decided the other 8 were planets

The dyslexic IAC have decided that Pluto is, in fact, a plant.

RF

"The IAC says that Pluto is a planet. It isn't"

The word planet only has meaning with an arbitrary definition. By the IAU's, it is a planet. By mine, it is a planet. By yours, it is not a planet. However, the IAU has the authority to decide which definition is right.

"The other peculiarity with Pluto is it doesn't have a standard orbit, and on occasion is nearer the Sun than Neptune, because it is on an elliptical rather than circular orbit. This surely makes it a satellite rather than a planet?"

How does that make it a satelite??? By that definition, the asteroids are all satelites. That may be evidence that it is an asteroid/inactive comet, but certainly not that it is a satelite.

"The Moon is gradually drifting away? What sort of time frame are we talking about?"

Billions of years.

It formed 3-4 billion years ago much closer to the Earth. It has been moving away, taking angular momentum from the Earth, and slowing Earth's spin since then. THe main cause of this is tidal friction. Once it gets far enough out and Earth is turning slow enough, it will be tidally locked with Earth's rotation (as Pluto-Charon is) and will always face the same place on Earth. Then it will be stable, I think.