spacetoday.net: space news from around the webin association with SpaceNews


Report: IAU group to recommend keeping Pluto as planet
Posted: Fri, Aug 11, 2006, 8:44 AM ET (1244 GMT)
Pluto moons illustration (STScI) A working group is expected to recommend to the International Astronomical Union (IAU) that Pluto be retained as a planet, opening the door for other solar system objects to also be designated as planets. NPR reported this week that the group will likely report at an IAU meeting later this month in Prague that Pluto retain its designation as a planet, and that a new class of planets, perhaps called "dwarf planets", be created. That class of planets would include Pluto, possibly the largest asteroids, and a number of the new large objects discovered in the outer solar system. Pluto's classification as a planet has been questioned for the last several years as large icy bodies in the Kuiper Belt and beyond have been found. At least one of those objects, nicknamed Xena, is now believed to be larger that Pluto.
Related Links:
<<previous article   next article>>
news in brief
Cosmonauts perform ISS spacewalk
Posted: Sat, Oct 18 11:21 AM ET (1521 GMT)

Ariane 64 debut slips to 2026
Posted: Sat, Oct 18 11:17 AM ET (1517 GMT)

SpaceX wins permission to double Vandenberg launch rate
Posted: Sat, Oct 18 11:16 AM ET (1516 GMT)

news links
Sunday, October 19
Greedy black hole feeds via two spiral arms
Netherlands Research School for Astronomy — 12:39 pm ET (1639 GMT)
Solstar Space Signs $15 Million Global Agreement with Momentus
Solstar Space Co. — 12:36 pm ET (1636 GMT)
ANT61 Signs LOI with Lumir
Space and Defense — 12:36 pm ET (1636 GMT)


about spacetoday.net   ·   info@spacetoday.net   ·   mailing list