Apolyton Quiz VII

[Heresson]

I think I recalled it. this bald guy was Piccard.

[Zoid]

Yep, but that was much later...

[Heresson]

Not in a global scale.

[Wernazuma III]

I'd have had 9, but I was late...
Although I'd challenge the answer of #9. It's not entirely clear what makes a planet, since there is no clear parameters that define it. Only recently they found another amorph rock out there with a funny rotation track whose largest diameter is bigger than Pluto's. I hope that they'll find so many oddities out there that they have to cut back the number of proper "planets" to 9, or even better 8, kicking Pluto from the list.

[Zoid]

As it stands now theren are 10 planets. See the appropriate link!

[RGBVideo]

Yeah, the authority you're clinging on in #9 doesn't really prove anything. When Pluto was found in 1930 any new rock seen in the Solar System qualified as a "planet", so the claim "zomfg larger than PLUTO" is really a big joke.

[Zoid]

Well, neither of us is on the special committe of the IAU, are we?

[RGBVideo]

Which is exactly why it was a stupid question for this kind of quiz IMHO.

edit: wait, what special committee?

[Zoid]

The above gives my personal view on how to resolve the planetary status. The official decision will come from the International Astronomical Union. We had hoped for a timely decision but we instead appear to be stuck in committee limbo. Here is the story, as best I can reconstruct it from the hints and rumors that I hear:

* A special committee of the International Astronomical Union (IAU) was charged with determining "what is a planet."
* Sometime around the end of 2005, this committee voted by a narrow margin for the "pluto and everything bigger" definition, or something close to it.
* The exectutive committee of the IAU then decided to ask the Division of Planetary Sciences (DPS) of the American Astronomical Society to make a reccomendation.
* The DPS asked their committee to look in to it.
* The DPS committee decided to form a special committee.
* Rumor has emerged that when the IAU general assembly meets in August in Prauge they willl make a decision on how to make a final decision!

So when do we expect a decision? Back in August 2005 I used to joke that the IAU was so slow they might take until 2006 before deciding. That was supposed to be a joke. Now I joke that I hope there is a decision by the time my daughter starts grade school and learns about planets in class. She is currently 9 months old.

[RGBVideo]

Originally posted by Zoid
The Special Committe appointed by the IAU to determine what´s a planet and what´s not.

How large is it? Who's in it?

a link would be nice

[Zoid]

http://www.gps.caltech.edu/~mbrown/planetlila/

I didn´t find a direct link at the IAU website.

[RGBVideo]

Ah, you edited more details in, that info is enough for me. Thank you.

[Zoid]

The special comittee might´ve been disbanded since it´s work is done...

[Zoid]

You´re welcome