Plutoids: a new class of objects beyond Neptune, Astronomy, politics or damage control |
Plutoids: a new class of objects beyond Neptune, Astronomy, politics or damage control |
Jun 12 2008, 09:44 AM
Post
#1
|
|
Member Group: Members Posts: 340 Joined: 11-April 08 From: Sydney, Australia Member No.: 4093 |
Article on the BBC website: 'Non-planet' Pluto gets new class
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7449735.stm QUOTE Now an IAU committee, meeting in Oslo, has suggested that small, nearly spherical objects orbiting beyond Neptune should carry the "plutoid" tag. It also goes on to say that not everybody is too excited about it: QUOTE "It's just some people in a smoke-filled room who dreamed it up," he told the Associated Press. "Plutoids or haemorrhoids, whatever they call it. This is irrelevant." -------------------- |
|
|
Jun 19 2008, 05:02 PM
Post
#2
|
|
Junior Member Group: Members Posts: 38 Joined: 26-September 06 From: New Jersey, USA Member No.: 1183 |
"Since this is another "argument from linguistics," I want to point out that it's kind of unreasonable. Note that a lightning bug is not a kind of lightning. There's probably some instance elsewhere in scientific nomenclature where a dwarf X isn't actually an X."
But a lightning bug is a type of bug (though this term is not scientific but colloquial). The first word, lightning, is the adjective modifying the noun bug, meaning the object is a type of bug, the same way the word dwarf in "dwarf human" is the adjective modifying the noun, human, indicating a type of human. |
|
|
Lo-Fi Version | Time is now: 27th September 2024 - 12:03 AM |
RULES AND GUIDELINES Please read the Forum Rules and Guidelines before posting. IMAGE COPYRIGHT |
OPINIONS AND MODERATION Opinions expressed on UnmannedSpaceflight.com are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of UnmannedSpaceflight.com or The Planetary Society. The all-volunteer UnmannedSpaceflight.com moderation team is wholly independent of The Planetary Society. The Planetary Society has no influence over decisions made by the UnmannedSpaceflight.com moderators. |
SUPPORT THE FORUM Unmannedspaceflight.com is funded by the Planetary Society. Please consider supporting our work and many other projects by donating to the Society or becoming a member. |