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Planets Redefined

Planets Redefined. What the heck happened to Pluto!!!!. Planets – the old definition. Originated by the Ancient Greek work “Planetai” Referred to the seven wanderers. Objects that were not fixed to the celestial sphere. Remember the names of those wonderers? ___________________.

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Planets Redefined

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  1. Planets Redefined What the heck happened to Pluto!!!!

  2. Planets – the old definition. • Originated by the Ancient Greek work “Planetai” • Referred to the seven wanderers. Objects that were not fixed to the celestial sphere. • Remember the names of those wonderers? ___________________

  3. Finding the Planets • Planetai includes Sun and Moon.. Which are not planets. • Uranus was added by William Herschel in 1781 by using a telescope. • Neptune was first observed by Galle and d'Arrest on 1846 though first observed by Galileo when observing Jupiter.

  4. Finding the Planets Continued… • Ceres was discovered in 1801 by Giuseppe Piazzi and was classified as a planet for half a century before it lost its status as a planet. • Pluto was finally added in 1930 by Clyde W. Tombaugh at Lowell Observatory in Arizona.

  5. All is good… • Since the 1930’s it has been widely accepted that there were nine planets. • 1990 began to change this popular line of thinking. • Technology like the Hubble Space Telescope, computer imagining, and more numerous and advanced telescopes began to detect objects on the outer fringe of the solar system.

  6. Lets blame Mike Brown… • In 2003 Caltech astronomer discovers an object (later called Sedna) in what is called the Oort cloud. • Sedna was larger then a comet yet smaller then Pluto. • Oort cloud – a cloud of icy debris that surrounds the solar system • Kuiper Belt – a denser area of icy material within the Oort Cloud where large chunks of ice can be found (like comets, and….. Pluto!)

  7. Oort Cloud

  8. Lets blame Mike Brown…(cont.) • During the late 1900’s and Early 2000’s several other trans-Neptunian objects were found. None larger then Pluto! • Mike did it again later in 2003, this time what he would find would rock the scientific community… • A trans-Neptunian object located in the Kuiper Belt that was larger then Pluto. • And it had a moon!!!!!!!!

  9. Trans-Neptunian Objects

  10. Too Much For Astronomers • Many astronomers were already expressing that Pluto was not a planet. • Now this new object (later named Eris) was too much. It was too small, it had a very odd orbit, and it did not lie on a flat plane as the other planets (like Pluto) • Problem is there was never a scientific definition for “Planet”!!!

  11. Eris – the goddess of Strife and discord.

  12. August 24, 2006 • A meeting of the IAU (International Astronomers Union) finally agreed on the definition of a planet.

  13. Definition of a Planet A planet in the solar system is a celestial body that:

  14. 1. Is in orbit around the sun. Definition of a planet

  15. Definition of a Planet 2. has sufficient mass so that it assumes a hydrostatic equilibrium (nearly round) shape. In other words, the gravity is so great in all directions, the only shape it can be is round.

  16. Definition of a Planet 3. And, has "cleared the neighborhood" around its orbit. Here is the catch… There should be no space debris in its orbit. This part of the definition is what ruled out Eris as a Planet, and expelled Pluto from the definition.

  17. The New (old) Planets

  18. So what do we do with Pluto? • It is now classified as a “Dwarf Planet” along with Eris and Ceres (the asteroid).

  19. What is a Dwarf Planet? • A dwarf planet is a planet in our solar system that….

  20. Definition of Dwarf Planet 1. Is in orbit around the sun

  21. Definition of Dwarf Planet 2. has sufficient mass for its self-gravity to overcome rigid body forces so that it assumes a hydrostatic equilibrium (nearly round) shape

  22. Definition of Dwarf Planet 3. has not cleared the neighborhood around its orbit.

  23. Definition of Dwarf Planet 4. is not a satellite (in other words, it is not a moon of another planet).

  24. 12 Dwarfs – Where is Snow White? Above are 12 more objects that may be classified as “Dwarf Planets” soon.

  25. Houston We Have a Problem…. • Hold on… Mr. Lee may have to rewrite this power point in the near future! • Scientist are not all in agreement with this new definition of “Planet”

  26. Is Earth A Planet? • There are about 1000 known asteroids in the Earth’s Orbit (called NEA’s or Near Earth Asteroids). • Some as large as 32 miles across! • By definition, the Earth is not a planet either, because it has not cleared it path around the sun!

  27. Jupiter travels through 100,000 Trojan and Greek asteroids as it travels around the sun! Mars does as well. Jupiter is even worse

  28. Lets get rid of Neptune too! • Though Neptune has only 4 KNOWN Trojan asteroids… • Keep in mind that about every 75 years Pluto crosses the path of Neptune to be closer to the sun for about 20 years. • Although they can not collide, there is a gravitational attraction between the two, so Neptune has not cleared its path because of Pluto!

  29. So what would make me happy? • On a personal note! • Throw out the part about clearing it path…. • They are all planets but there are three types… • Terrestrial, Jovian, and Dwarf.

  30. Why Express My Opinion? • Discovery is important. • A probe to Pluto was sent January 2006. It should arrive in 2015. Was already having financial support problems, would have gone under if definition happened earlier. • Why study invest in the outer solar system if there is nothing exciting to find out there?!?

  31. More Information can be found at….. • All images and facts were aquired from the following sites: http://en.wikipedia.org http://www.nineplanets.org/

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