eleven? there's nothing magic about eleven

...was I the only one that didn't know our solar system now has eleven planets?

Can't remember the 11 planets? 4th-grader offers help

What? I said. (Out loud. To my purse. I was that appalled.)

Now see, I remember when Pluto was downgraded. My entire childhood, invalidated by some sadistic astronomers. I remember that day, though I don't know when it was, because it was hard. So hard.

Quote:
The 11 recognized planets are Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Ceres, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto and Eris.

Ceres, Pluto and Eris are considered dwarf planets.

I didn't say what again: I was too horrified.

So like any good netizen, I went to Wikipedia, the bastion of all knowledge. They'll sort this nonsense, I told my laptop. (Out loud. Because I can.)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planets

Quote:
Under IAU definitions, there are eight planets in the Solar System (Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune) and 270 extrasolar ones.[3] The Solar System also contains at least three dwarf planets (Ceres, Pluto, and Eris).

It still hurts to see Pluto retconned like that. But this business of putting then all in together? Ceres? Who ever wanted a planet called Ceres? And Eris is a freakishly opportunistic little bastard--he got an upgrade, as he was once Pluto's moon and now? Equals.

Okay, Eris is not the moon of Pluto. That would have been insult on top of injury. Thank you, green_grrl. BUT IT IS STILL A DWARF PLANET. GAH.

Hmm.

So hied myself to the AUI--the International Astronomical Union, the people who first wrecked the Nine and made them a lesser eight. The website won't load. I am going to stare at it until it loads.

Seriously. No.

Comments

[deadlychameleon.livejournal.com]

Eris is the goddess of discord. It's oddly appropriate, but that seems like tempting fate or something.

[amireal.livejournal.com]

I demand a recount. I wonder if we can rig some Florida courts.

That's just wrong.

[bakarti.livejournal.com]

I don't have much of an interest in astronomy, but the one thing I remember from grade school is that there are nine planets. And if they - whoever the hell "they" are - are going to deprive Pluto of planet status, then that means there are only eight planets left. Ceres and Eris? I refuse to acknowledge them.

Not that I ever heard of them before today.

[eleveninches.livejournal.com]

You know you're old when you start thinking, "Stop changing things, science!"

[amireal.livejournal.com]

SRSLY! I do not have time to learn new acronyms!

[bethcarielle.livejournal.com]

There will always be nine planets in my universe. Otherwise the mnemonic I learned in grade school is useless.

Wasn't there a planet or planetette dwarf planet they were calling Xena for a while?

ETA: Answering my own question. Eris the dwarf planet formerly known as Xena with its moon Dysnomia formerly known as Gabrielle.

ETA 2: (I've had way too much caffeine - and Torchwood - which means I have nothing better to do than compulsively edit my comment.) I love this icon (http://userpic.livejournal.com/51503033/173272). I remember seeing it when Pluto was first demoted.

[green-grrl.livejournal.com]

And Eris is a freakishly opportunistic little bastard--he got an upgrade, as he was once Pluto's moon and now? Equals.

Dude, you freaked me out! But no, whew. Charon is Pluto's "moon" -- that checks out. (Really, they're a binary planet, but it's not recognized yet. It will be! It will be! *shakes fist*) Eris is a totally different planet, three times farther from the Sun than Pluto, which ... whoa. (And Pluto is so totally a planet, binary or otherwise! Solidarity!)

[ladysorka]

Ceres was actually considered a planet first. And then we discovered the asteroid belt, and it was downgraded. And now it's been upgraded back again!

[lilyfarfalla.livejournal.com]

Yes, THANK YOU. It was like it happened weeks, months ago, and no one bothered to mention it! There need to be, like, press conferences and astronomy days and how did it not come up during the lunar eclipse?! I feel like it's some kind of early April Fool's Day joke. Because no.

[liamar13.livejournal.com]

those bastards they killed kenny Pluto!!!

planets that are now dwarfs and moons that are now planets/grumble

*more cries of inarticulate rage*

<----- pause rant

oh jenn, you always focus on the critical things in life :D

<----- restart rant

i totally agree with you. i am still miffed about the Pluto Decision (yes the title is and shall forever remain capitalised). and Ceres? in all honesty i have never even heard of it before and now it is equals with pluto?!!!

can i join you in the staring? it can be a solidarity stare....

[beck-liz.livejournal.com]

If you're interested, the "Bad Astronomy" Blog goes into detail about this here (http://www.badastronomy.com/bablog/2008/02/28/my-contest-goes-to-11/). And for what it's worth, poor Pluto should still be a planet. Hmph.

[mahaliem.livejournal.com]

I'm still offended on Pluto's behalf.

[svmadelyn.livejournal.com]

THIS IS BULLSHIT.

*CURSEY MCCURSERSON*

[suzvoy.livejournal.com]

*scratches head*

[ratcreature]

I had heard about Ceres, but I didn't pay close attention to the whole planet/not planet kerfuffle, so I didn't know we now have eleven either. I guess I'm in the minority, but I find the idea of having just eight proper planets and the rest of the small rabble as dwarf planets neat. *g*

[kickair8p.livejournal.com]

Hail Eris! ::g,d,rlh!::





~

[lavvyan.livejournal.com]

It still hurts to see Pluto retconned like that. But this business of putting then all in together? Ceres? Who ever wanted a planet called Ceres?

That is pretty much what I thought.

Although the geek in me totally sniggered because it sounds like that planet from Super Metroid. Why yes, I need to get a life.

[adannu.livejournal.com]

I KNOW. I had the same reaction! Eleven? *squints at article*

[amezri.livejournal.com]

Eleven? o_O I seem to have missed that memo. I can only be glad that the first four planets are still the same as those are the only ones I knew in the proper order anyway -_-;

[thedivinegoat.livejournal.com]

There was a quote on fandom lounge, which made me laugh

"Pluto got invited back into the planets, but was made to sit at the kids table."

[lilyoftheval5.livejournal.com]

Eleven? What?!?! Last time I checked it was eight!
I'll keep to mine nine. In a few years, I'll check the count again and see whether we finally know what's in our freaking solar system.
Eleven...... It can't be that hard to differentiate between planets and moons/satellites.

[aurora]

Omgyes! I saw that too yesterday and googled the hell out of it. And seriously: 11?

[bathsweaver.livejournal.com]

Oh my God.

The last time I had a disconnect like this, I found out my little cousins didn't know who Smokey the Bear was. I just. Whaaaat?


Eris and Ceres. God.

[gnomi.livejournal.com]

Pluto is a planet! (http://www.plutoisaplanet.org/)

[thepouncer.livejournal.com]

Ceres is the Roman name for Demeter, which I had occasion to research this week. So I'm kind of cool with her - I've always been disgruntled at the gender ratio of planetary names. But! I still count Pluto as a planet.

The History Channel is airing this series "The Universe" and one episode this week went into far out space theories, including one that related recurrent mass extinctions (presumably caused by asteroid strikes?) with a COMPANION STAR CALLED NEMESIS that's too low wattage to be seen from Earth (Brown Dwarf!). It swings around every dozen million years through the Oort Cloud and sends more debris than usual toward Earth! All I could think was an outraged This isn't Pern!!!

[cetpar.livejournal.com]

Maybe the servers are down because everyone who saw that article googled and went to the website. It wasn't loading when I checked, either.

Interesting. I remember the furor over Pluto's demotion, but I don't recall ever hearing that was demoted to a "dwarf planet".

Ceres? Who ever wanted a planet called Ceres?
I'm still bummed they renamed Xena to Eris. Come on. Xena.

You may have already seen this, but a planetary astronomy professor at Caltech talks about Pluto's demotion and dwarf planets here (http://web.gps.caltech.edu/~mbrown/dwarfplanets.html). Cool stuff.

[out-there.livejournal.com]

Apart from the fact that I still feel a bit hurt about Pluto being downgraded (yes, I know, it's not like I was ever going to visit it myself, but still, I'd grown up *knowing* this stuff and suddenly, oh, it got RECLASSIFIED), I can't help giggling because the names "Ceres" and "Eris" turn up in Sailor Moon as villians. (All the names seem to come from planets or minerals, so now I'm going to be thinking of those two as the planet version of catty women in very high heels.)

eleven? there's nothing magic about eleven

[maxinemayer.livejournal.com]

Am I the only one who thinks it's cool that such "stable bits of knowledge" like the number of planets that grace our solar system *change*???!!!

I was hurt about Pluto's demotion but the additions - and including Pluto "in" again - not so much! I like the idea! Something very charming about the mental image I've got of blushing scientists saying, "...well, yeah, maybe we were a bit hasty, there, you know, sorry about that..."!
Love, max

[ceares.livejournal.com]

Hee! This is the e-mail I sent to my friends when I saw that.

So now there's 11 planets? Seriously, I think it's some conspiracy to confuse old people. How the hell can we keep up. First there were 9, then Pluto got kicked out and now, it's back in, along with Ceres and Eris-though the three of them are dwarf planets and the other planets apparently get bored and drunk and toss them.

New Mne--Nme---ah fuck it. New memory trick for it . My Very Exciting Magical Carpet Just Sailed Under Nine Palace Elephants.

Learn it peeps! We won't be left behind!