The Solar System now has 12 planets (and counting!)

[reds4ever]

Originally posted by MrFun
Well good luck on your exploratory mission, reds -- godspeed.

[Az]

Because they are Planemos.

emo

[Dauphin]

Maybe I'm missing something, but does the new classification system do anything other than resolve the issue of the correct way to eat a boiled egg?

[Zkribbler]

Originally posted by MichaeltheGreat
Part of the definition of planet is orbiting around a star.

There are likely billions of former planets in our galaxy which were gravitationally ejected from the stars they formed around, including a few from this solar system. Mercury and Mars aren't in completely stable orbital paths, so there is a very small chance they could be ejected in a little tug of war between the sun and Jupiter. Welcome to cold dark matter, or at least one of its constituents.

So a planet which is ejected from its solar system (I like to think "by way of a supernova explosion" -- it's the romantic in me) becomes what?? "A big round thingie that used to be a planet?"

Edit: Upon reading further down in the thread, I find that it's a "Planemo" which is a contraction of "planetary mass object." So it's only a "planetary mass object" and not a "planet." Wow, I'm glad that's cleared up.

[Provost Harrison]

Originally posted by reds4ever
Ooops, missed that!!

[Sprayber]

I read on wiki that there could be possibly more additions up to 53 in toal


I guess I can tell my kids that I'm so old that I remember when there were only 9 planets

[reds4ever]

Originally posted by Provost Harrison

If you read through, I didn't really miss it.

[MichaeltheGreat]

Originally posted by Zkribbler


So a planet which is ejected from its solar system (I like to think "by way of a supernova explosion" -- it's the romantic in me) becomes what?? "A big round thingie that used to be a planet?"

The shockwave from a supernova would obliterate any planet and turn its remnants into a high-energy plasma. That's assuming there were any planets around to begin with, but unfortunately, a star with sufficient mass above the Chandrasekhar limit to be a supernova candidate would already have gone into a giant/supergiant phase, and boiled off its planets, though it would still have its own version of Oort cloud objects to be turned into plasma.

If you had a multiple star system with one star massive enough to be a supernova candidate, its gravitational interactions with the other stars in the system would have ejected virtually any planet early in the system's formation, assuming you even had planetary formation.

So sorry, ejected planets are pretty much exclusively triggered by gravitational interactions.

[TCO]

What's up, Mike?

[MichaeltheGreat]

Hey George - just hanging out, and trying to figure out where to store all the new toys. How about you?

[TCO]

Getting older. Working out for spurts. Then vegetating. Some issues job-wise. But bizarrely, they seem to go better when I persevere. Some M&A experience. Want more. But it is not in the cards. Introducing a new polymer and am basically a marketing weenie. (market development). Not sure where it is all going but have my victories at times.

C?

[MichaeltheGreat]

Yeah, I know the getting older thing. Been a professional gimp for going on nine months now, but slowly getting better.

C - she's in the middle of moving, got a new job a few months ago, don't think she has time (or inclination? ) to post here anymore.

Ian's getting ready for 1st grade - he's in the big leagues now. Taking him to his first Red Sox game next week. Perfect timing, with the team near collapse, and the faithful getting ready for mass self-immolation once again. He'll get the hang of being a Sox fan soon enough, but now, it's all just a fun adventure until he gets tired, usually an inning or so after the Sox starters.

[reds4ever]

Get a room guys!

[MichaeltheGreat]

We did - we took over this one.

[reds4ever]

Originally posted by MichaeltheGreat
We did - we took over this one.

Have you got around looking through the business end of a telescope yet? Or are you still an armchair astronomer?