Friday, August 18, 2006

The impending disappearance of Pluto

A committee of the International Astronomical Union has proposed a new definition of "planet" which will be voted on next week in Prague. A planet would be defined as a body in orbit around a star and big enough for gravity to make it round.

This reminded me of something my father wrote in 1980 (click to see a larger version):

7 comments:

EliRabett said...

You got a cool dad!

Anonymous said...

Brings back good memories of filling up the liquid nitrogen dewars on the loading dock at Space Sciences to lug back to Keith-Wiess for the Hi Vac extraction lines. Fun times around there. Cheers.

Andrew Dessler said...

Dr. J-

were you a undergrad/grad in SPAC at Rice? If so, what years were you there?

Anonymous said...

I was a grad student in stable isotope geochemistry, 1972-1975

Anonymous said...

How hilarious! :^D Your dad and his buddy have a great sense of humour!

And planet "Xena" will soon "disappear" as well, only to re-appear with a brand new name!

http://tinyurl.com/antbt

Anonymous said...

I LIKE PLUTO, HE NEVER BARKS AND
NEVER WAKES ME UP DURING THE NIGHT.
SO WHY NOT LEAVE AS A PLANET?

Anonymous said...

WHO PAYS THESE SCIENTISTS THAT
HAVE NOTHING BETTER TO DO THAN
REARRANGING THE SOLAR SYSTEM?