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[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

Saving Pluto: The fightback begins

Only a week after Pluto was stripped of its status as a full-fledged planet of the Solar System, rebel astronomers have launched a campaign to have it restored in pomp and glory.


A petition already signed by more than 300 professional researchers is attacking the IAU decision.

www.ipetitions.com/petition/planetprotest).

The petition organiser, Mark Sykes, who is director of the Planetary Science Institute in Tucson, Arizona, said the IAU definition of a planet "does not meet fundamental scientific

"A more open process, involving a broader cross-section of the community engaged in planetary studies of our own Solar System and others should be undertaken," Sykes said.

The British magazine New Scientist said on its website Friday that the rebels intend to stage a conference next year to fix the definition of a planet. As many as 1,000 astronomers will attend, they hope.

A co-sponsor of the petition is Alan Stern, executive director of the Center for Space Exploration

Stern heads NASA's New Horizons mission to Pluto. Its spacecraft -- which also bears some of the ashes of US astronomer Clyde Tombaugh, who discovered Pluto in 1930 -- blasted off in January this year, months before the IAU decision that relegated Pluto's status.

Stern said "only about 428" of the IAU's nearly 10,000 members were involved in the IAU vote in Prague on August 24 that condemned Pluto as a planetary midget.

That tally is barely more than the number of people who signed the protest petition within the first five days of its being launched, he said.

In that landmark general assembly, the IAU declared the Solar System now comprised eight planets: Mercury, Earth, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune.

Pluto's status had long been contested by astronomers who said its tiny size, eccentric orbit and orbital plane precluded it from joining the other acknowledged planets.

The IAU assigned Pluto and other large objects to a new category -- "dwarf planet."

By the new IAU yardstick, a planet has "cleared the neighbourhood around its orbit" -- in other words, it is massive enough to wield a gravity that clears rocks and other debris on its orbital path. The pro-Pluto group says no planet ever fully clears its orbit.

Earth has been catastrophically struck several times in its history by large space rocks and in 1994 even Jupiter, the biggest planet of the Solar System, was wacked by parts of a disintegrating comet, they note.

The planetary club, instead of being reduced to eight, should be enlarged to other planetary-sized objects, they say, an argument that others contest as unwieldy and confusing for the general public.

"The only thing missing when (the IAU) announced the decision at their press conference was the 'Mission Accomplished' banner," said University of Colorado researcher Jeffrey Bennett.

The next assembly of the IAU is in 2009, which means a long battle could be in the offing among astronomers, whose quiet and bookish exterior can mask steely resolve when it comes to disputes.

Source: www.physorg.com/news76308531.html

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And so it begins.

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

CSEPR examines movement to set aside IAU planet definition ruling

"We, as planetary scientists and astronomers, do not agree with the IAU's definition of a planet, nor will we use it. A better definition is needed."

The statement was placed on the web at www.ipetitions.com/petition/planetprotest and circulated by e-mail to a small fraction of the world's astronomical research community.

In less than five days, the petition was signed by 300 professional planetary scientists and astronomers. The list of signatories (posted at the website above) includes researchers who have studied every kind of planet in the solar system, as well as asteroids, comets, the Kuiper Belt and planetary interactions with the space environment. Many have been involved in the robotic exploration of the solar system from some of the earliest missions to Cassini-Huygens, missions to Mars, and ongoing missions to the innermost and outermost reaches of our solar system. Others are leading missions that are preparing for launch. The petition list includes prominent experts in the field of planet formation and evolution, planetary atmospheres, planetary surfaces and interiors, as well as international prize-winning researchers.

The Center for Space Exploration Policy Research seeks to stimulate discussion on the ethical, cultural and philosophic aspects of space policy. For more information on the CSEPR, visit www.boulder.swri.edu/CSEPR.The Center for Space Exploration Policy Research seeks to stimulate discussion on the ethical, cultural and philosophic aspects of space policy. For more information on the CSEPR, visit www.boulder.swri.edu/CSEPR.

Source: www.spaceref.com/news/viewpr.nl.html?pid=20724

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[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

300 Astronomers Will Not Use New Planet Definition

More than 300 astronomers have signed a petition denounced the IAU’s new planet definition that demotes Pluto. The petition states simply:

“We, as planetary scientists and astronomers, do not agree with the IAU’s definition of a planet, nor will we use it. A better definition is needed”

The petition, which began circulating right after last week’s vote, is one more sign that this whole debate is far from over. In another move today, the world’s largest group of planetary scientists issued a statement suggesting the definition would get worked over between now and the next IAU meeting in 2009.

While it might have seemed to the public and the press that Pluto’s demotion was a done deal (and I’m on record as saying the defintion should not be altered beyond minor tweaks to clarify) I would not bet against Pluto’s possible resurgence. Just as science promises to march forward, so too will all this bickering and posturing. And why not? It’s great fun, some of the best scientific theater of our generation.

Source: www.livescience.com/blogs/2006/08/31/300-astronomers-wont-use-new-planet-definition/

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This ain't over yet.

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

Pluto demotion draws protest

LAS CRUCES, New Mexico (AP) --

Size doesn't matter.

That was the message as friends and colleagues of the late Clyde Tombaugh, the astronomer who discovered Pluto, gathered on the New Mexico State University campus to protest the International Astronomical Union's recent decision to strip Pluto of its status as a planet.

About 50 students and staff members turned out Friday for the good-natured challenge. Some were wearing T-shirts and carrying signs that read "Protest for Pluto" and "Size Doesn't Matter."

Tombaugh's widow, Patricia, and their son, Al Tombaugh, also participated.

NMSU astronomer Bernie McNamara told the crowd that textbooks shouldn't be rewritten.

"Why not? Because the debate is not over," McNamara said.

The IAU determined last week that a planet must orbit the sun and be large enough to assume a nearly round shape as well as "clear the neighborhood around its orbit." Pluto's oblong orbit overlaps Neptune's, which led the IAU to downsize the solar system to eight planets from the traditional nine. (Full story)

McNamara argued that only about 400 of the union's thousands of members were present when the August 24 vote was taken.

"This was not a statement by the astronomical community at large," he said, adding that a petition opposing the IAU definition of a planet is circulating among the world's planetary scientists and astronomers.

Tombaugh was 24 when he discovered Pluto while working at Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona, in 1930. He came to NMSU in 1955 and founded the school's research astronomy department.

His legacy is visible across the city, where an observatory, a campus street and an elementary school bear his name.

Some say Tombaugh's discovery was significant because it took 60 years for stronger telescopes to locate another object with an unusual orbit like Pluto's, and 73 years before scientists discovered a bigger object in the area.

"Clyde Tombaugh was an American hero," said Herb Beebe, a longtime colleague. "For that reason alone, Pluto's status as a full-fledged planet should be kept."

Source: www.cnn.com/2006/TECH/space/09/02/pluto.protest.ap/index.html

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Plutonians of the world...Arise!... #argue#

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

Goal: 1,000,000 Petitioners wanted

So, the trouble with Pluto is finally over. Right?

Wrong. Many people, including many astronomers and other scientists, do not accept the IAU's decision.

For one thing, the IAU's definition of planet is not entirely self-consistent. Consider the following: Pluto itself crosses the orbit of Neptune, which means Neptune has failed to clear its own neighborhood. Is Neptune, therefore, not a planet? (Taken to extremes, this "logic" would add up to zero planets in the solar system, because no planet has completely cleared its neighborhood of asteroids and other debris--just ask any dinosaur.)

Astronomers aren't the only ones with an interest in this: The word "planet" is thousands of years old. People use the word on a daily basis and know what it means. It's Plain Language.

The IAU, meanwhile, has been around for less than a century. It was founded in 1919 and now, in 2006, has a membership of about 9,000. Less than 4% of the IAU's members actually participated in the vote to demote Pluto.

Perhaps a larger and more varied group of people should be allowed to decide. To that end, we have established a web page where anyone can vote:

When one million votes have been collected, we plan to present the tally—pro vs. con—to the IAU, and ask the General Assembly to consider the results in their next definition of planet.

plutopetition.com/

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So far, it's about 2 to 1 in favor of keeping Pluto a planet. I voted in favor...