<p>In case you have no heard, for several months now, astronomers have been studying what is presumed to be our solar system's 10th planet. This news is not completely new, but I thought it would be interesting to get some discussion going. Any thoughts to this debate? (whether Pluto itself is even really a planet, etc.) I would love to see some interesting points!</p>
<p>Links on the news:</p>
<p>It's actually something like the 12th or 13th, if not higher. I think it's nifty. I'm more impressed, however, by the audio clips of the "Neptune noises." That's amazing stuff right there. Further convinces me that I need to take Intro to Astronomy in spring, even though I know it won't transfer well anywhere.</p>
<p>Last summer I met Mike Brown(the founder) and he gave a private lecture to the Cal State LA NASA SHARP group.</p>
<p>ok, first of all i'm not trying to undermine astronomy or space research at all. but wouldn't you guys agree that for the amount of time and money that it takes to find what on mars or if there's a 10th planet, it's really not worth it. i mean all that time and money can be used to help solve problems on earth. i understand space research is valuable, but only to a ceratin point (at the moment anyways). but to each his own. i just believe there are more important things to do.</p>
<p>Coqui:</p>
<p>I know where you're getting at, but the amount of money invested in space research is very little compared to how much money is "wasted" in the United States and throughout the world. For an example, just look at lavish Hollywood stars: is it absolutely necessary to build numerous multi-million dollar homes just so they can be knocked down and rebuilt? At least space research is a slow and steady establishment that is out to explore what we do not know.</p>
<p>I think that learning about space is very practical, too. No one knows the future--there could be a time where we'd need every scrap of info. Not necessarily an alian takeover or A Really Big Meteor Crashing Toward Us, but, say, a comet coming close enough to hurt a satelite or something. And everyone's so worried about the population exploding--maybe there will be a day we colonize the moon. You never know!</p>
<p>Plus, if you want to talk about wasted funds, think about the money that supports English department academia. People writing papers no one will ever read, about books no one ever enjoyed, for no reason except to get tenure. Anyway, I think I'd cut the National Endowment for the Arts before NASA. Not that the NEA isn't great, but just that there is absolutely nothing practical about it, except that it employs art majors.;-)</p>
<p>They actually did just find a Really Big Meteor Crashing Toward Us! There's a 1 in 15,000 chance that we're going to be hit in 203something.</p>
<p>beginning, that's fine, even if it is on a collision course, because we know so early I'm sure we'd be able to do something by the 2030s. It's only a few more years until we can stop that threat as long as we can recognize the meteors early. But we definitely have to continue with space research and probably increase it.</p>
<p>^ These happen like every few months...</p>
<p>:)</p>
<p>Yeah seriously, I don't get why it's reported each time. "There's a 1 in 10,000-100,000 chance we could all die in 10-100 years." If it was something like 1 in 100 then I'd understand. We're too paranoid..</p>
<p>this is off topic but, I was just wondering: in the BCC news, one of the headlines says "Futher than Pluto." should this be "Farther" because it is concrete distance?</p>
<p>What do you think about the name? "Sedna" after the Inuit goddess of the sea. It sounds too politically correct. So what, we have eight planets named after figures from Roman mythology and one after an Inuit goddess? Too incongrous, I think. Plus, a sea goddess? Why not a sky or star goddess? Wouldn't that be more appropriate? </p>
<p>Then again, Neptune is god of the sea. But that planet is blue.</p>
<p>Yeah, I think it should be farther too.</p>
<p>
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this is off topic but, I was just wondering: in the BCC news, one of the headlines says "Futher than Pluto." should this be "Farther" because it is concrete distance?
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<p>Maybe they're trying to be deep and figurative! haha..</p>
<p>Hehe ...I heard about that listening to NPR yesterday!!</p>
<p>What do you reckon wil happen to the whole horoscopes thing?</p>
<p>like, they usually say, your health planet moves into the sun of saturn, rotates counterclockwise towards neptune, your career planet or something.</p>
<p>So they would have to configure all this.</p>
<p>And then all those birth planets: like, mines Mercury- the planet of leadership and desire of perfection or something. They would have to configure eveyrthing and like someone born from 1 aug to 1 sep would have to move into the new planet.</p>
<p>And like, my friend practices wicca and she uses all these candels to represent her goddess and gods from each planet and stuff. would there be a god for the 10th planet? And she like aligns all the days of the month to the full moons and stuff of each planets and weird shizniks. She would have to change them..</p>
<p>K-PAX was just on ABC, and he said that lol!</p>
<p>Wow, I just watched K-PAX on tv too machiavelli and my first thought was this thread lol...</p>
<p>As far as the people who think that the money could be better spent. You're right, honestly fixing problems on Earth would be good and diverting money from the space program could do that. However it should also be considered that exploration has been a basic need of humans throughout history. Space just happenes to be the newest area that we have started to explore.</p>
<p>That article clears up a bit of confusion about the 10th planet. Sedna is not the 10th planet, but instead a large planetoid. The 10th planet is unnamed and is about 1.5 times the size of Pluto.</p>