Dwarf planet, wassup?

Posted by Emily Lakdawalla

2013/08/16 11:24 CDT

Topics: podcasts and videos, Charon, Pluto, New Horizons

I got a sneak preview of this video at the Pluto Science Conference a few weeks ago. When we were told we would be shown a rap by fifth graders about Pluto, we were, I must admit, skeptical. This turned out to be so much more awesome than I could've imagined. It got a lengthy ovation.

Well done, fifth graders of Kipp Heartwood Academy! You really captured the essence of the agruments about Pluto's status. In adorable rap form.

The kids had some messages for the collected Pluto scientists, which we also loved.

Be sure not to miss the related rap battle, in which Rosalind Franklin delivers a smackdown to Watson and Crick...

And for more on what the scientists were actually talking about at that Pluto science conference:

Comments:

Bob Ware: 08/16/2013 08:15 CDT

That's a great video you all did! Congratulations! Dwarf planet. Yeah that fits! Why not? We have dwarf stars! By my definition if it has or had a core (that has differentiated) then it is a planet as long as it is large enough to have become round. Size does not matter. It's location depends on where it was flung or pushed to some how. But ... for now I say Pluto is a KBO. When the New Horizons spacecraft gets there we'll learn a lot but we will have more questions than answers. That is also how you know a spacecraft mission is truly successful. Hopefully all or some of you will go into planetary science one day. maybe even work on Mars or elsewhere in our planetary system! Good luck to all of you for a successful future!

EarthlingX: 08/16/2013 11:58 CDT

This seems to me like a decent and constructive proposal : A Proposal for New Definitions of Solar System Bodies - Planet, Moon, and Satellite http://arxiv.org/abs/1308.0616

Bob Ware: 08/17/2013 07:02 CDT

Hi EarthlingX - Thanks for the papers link. It is a great read and makes wonderful sense. Bruce Betts, et. al. in astronomy or space science in some way; please read this paper. Whether it is adopted or not, it needs to be read and given support for adoption. It makes good scientific sense to adopt it as well as good academic sense to have the newest astronomers and planetary scientists all on the same page so they can accurately discuss a body or a newly discovered body. Pertaining to a newly discovered body the participants will all be in the same classification zone as a starting point basis based upon the exampled minimum criteria. Thus they will have a good understanding of what was actually discovered and follow the collected scientific data forward.

Jose Rozada: 08/18/2013 05:30 CDT

The Proposal for New Definitions of Solar System Bodies by David Russell is very worth reading and taking into consideration by the whole astronomy community, as it addresses clearly the planet definition matter and in the first reading it makes a lot of sense. It must be widely supported.