New Planetoid Discovered

[Doctor Q]

Originally posted by Over Achiever
One astronomer (i dunno who) put it best:... Since Pluto has been deemed a planet, why should we go through all the pain and change all the books, saying otherwise."

For the same reason that many astronomy books were changed to show that Neptune's orbit was outside Pluto's orbit for the years when it was true. To be scientific, you must accept agreed-upon definitions and be willing to accept the results of applying the definitions to the subjects of interest using the known facts.

If the definition is "EITHER a body with a certain mass that was formed a certain way, OR Pluto", that's fine. My point is that you can't expect to settle it without agreeing on the definition (rules of the game) first.

 

[Mr. Anderson]

Well, you also have all the asteroids between Mars and Jupiter as well, and all the large ones have names. For a planet, it seems simple enough, to me at least, that if it orbits the Sun, by itself or with moons, not as a group, then it should be considered a planet. Look at all the new moons of Jupiter and Saturn that have been found since we visited them. No real size restrictions there.

Unfortunately, I really don't think the astronomical naming body should waste time on worrying about whether its a planet or not, but they should make a decision and get it over with.

D

 

[Doctor Q]

I checked a few encyclopedias. It seems that planet is generally defined as an nonluminous (meaning not itself a star?) object that orbits a star and isn't an asteroid, comet, or meteoroid.

But the definitions of asteroids, comets, and meteoroids vary from source to source. Most describe these non-planet objects as small, but not precisely HOW small. And phrases like minor planet and planetoid only add to the confusion.

I say let's wait and see if Quaoar crashes into the earth. Then it would be settled - it's a meteorite!

 

[Mr. Anderson]

Theory goes that what ever was the moon, originally slammed into earth at it early stages and left a mix of materials, part earth, part moon in orbit. So even a planetoid could collide with the earth....

 

[Durandal7]

Originally posted by Hemingray
Hm, that name sounds suspiciously similar to Rimmer's fabricated "Quagaars" alien species.

Does that mean that Quaoarians would communicate by breaking legs and doing jigsaws?

 

[medea]

...

 

[Mr. Anderson]

Damn, how true, almost -

http://www.netsol.com/cgi-bin/whois/whois?STRING=quaoar.com&SearchType=do

Creation Date 10/07/2002 and what do you think this person is going to do with it? Domain Name speculation isn't exactly a money maker any more.

D

 

[Doctor Q]

I bid 4 billion dollars for the domain name (one dollar for each mile from here to Quaoar). I'm sure I can come up with a profitable model for selling Quaoar T-shirts, Quaoar mugs, Quaoar keychains, etc., over the web.

 

[Mr. Anderson]

Originally posted by Doctor Q
I bid 4 billion dollars for the domain name (one dollar for each mile from here to Quaoar). I'm sure I can come up with a profitable model for selling Quaoar T-shirts, Quaoar mugs, Quaoar keychains, etc., over the web.

We'll have to watch and see if anything is ever developed at the site - my guess is that it won't, but you never know. A Quaoar T-Shirt would be kind of funny, actually.

D

 

[Doctor Q]

OK, dukestreet and I will be business partners. We'll need some good ideas for what to put on the T-shirts, since there won't be any real closeup photos of Quaoar for a while.

Idea #1: "My grandmother went to Quaoar and all I got was this lousy T-shirt."

Idea #2: A fake photo of Quaoar's surface with a Starbucks already there.

Idea #3: Quaoarians running SETI@home on their qMac computers, announcing that they have discovered life on the 3rd planet from the sun.

 

[Mr. Anderson]

Not a bad start - maybe a MacRumors Quaoar shirt and we could have a contest for the design of the qMac.....

D