"Pluto Now Called a Plutoid"

[I Have A Dream]

The International Astronomical Union has decided on the term "plutoid" as a name for dwarf planets like Pluto.

Sidestepping concerns of many astronomers worldwide, the IAU's decision, at a meeting of its Executive Committee in Oslo, comes almost two years after it stripped Pluto of its planethood and introduced the term "dwarf planets" for Pluto and other small round objects that often travel highly elliptical paths around the sun in the far reaches of the solar system.

The name plutoid was proposed by the members of the IAU Committee on Small Body Nomenclature (CSBN), accepted by the Board of Division III and by the IAU Working Group for Planetary System Nomenclature (WGPSN), and approved by the IAU Executive Committee at its recent meeting in Oslo, according to a statement released today.

Here's the official new definition:

"Plutoids are celestial bodies in orbit around the sun at a distance greater than that of Neptune that have sufficient mass for their self-gravity to overcome rigid body forces so that they assume a hydrostatic equilibrium (near-spherical) shape, and that have not cleared the neighborhood around their orbit."

(continued at link below)
http://news.yahoo.com/s/space/20080611/sc_space/plutonowcalledaplutoid

[Blaze Diem]

1. That's a dumb name. I'm still calling it Pluto..as I am a Scorpio,

with Leo rising, I just cannot bring myself to call my beloved and mysterious Pluto ..."plutoid"..its kinda demeaning. Pride says .'no way.'

[I Have A Dream]

2. Hi, Blaze Diem! I'm pretty sure that its name will still be...

Pluto, but rather than being called a "planet", it'll now be called a "plutoid". I don't like it either though. x(

So, instead of saying "the planet Pluto", it's to be "the plutoid Pluto". :eyes:

:)

[Blaze Diem]

3. ahhhhhggg that is so lame...

What were they thinking?
At least give it dignity.

[ricochetastroman]

4. I agree

it sounds way to much like a hemorrhoid. Of course, Pluto rules the rectum.
Interesting new factoid.

[BlueIris]

5. Dumbest. Name. Ever.

Ever.

Still calling it Pluto.

[agent46]

6. Plutoid!

So all small planet-like objects in orbit would now be referred to as Plutoids. That's a fitting way to honor the former planet we all grew up with. I like it. Plutoid sounds like a space puppy! Cute - can you imagine lot's of baby Plutos out there all over the solar system tumbling around having the time of their life? Ya never know - could be an improvement.

:evilgrin:

mick

[rumpel]

7. I saw that in LBN

Wilms posted a Scientific American article that they may bring this issue up again next year.

and the suggestion of Major & Minor - which sounds much better to me than Plutoid -
Pluto deserves more respect that that.

I cracked up when I read in the LBN thread about "hemmeroid" referring to a guy on Fox.

:)