Mabfan's Musings

Last night, Nomi and I went to the Owen Gingerich talk at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. We ran into some people we know, including Gay & Joe Haldeman, and Sean Sullivan & Tamara Swanson. I also thought I recognized a few of the other people in the audience, which doesn't surprise me. The place filled up rather quickly, but apparently the CfA now makes a point of having some talks given twice in one night. So after we heard Gingerich give his talk, another audience got to hear him as well.

Gingerich gave an overview of the discovery of new solar system bodies throughout the 18th and 19th centuries, and how for a while there astronomers had classified quite a few objects, which we now think of as asteroids, as planets. He spent a lot of the time on the subject in order to set up what had happened just prior to and at the IAU General Assembly in August. Gingerich had been named chair of the Planet Definition Committee, and they had come up with a rather good definition of the word "planet" that was based on science. Essentially, a planet would be a body whose hydrostatic equilibrium had resulted in a spherical shape. Objects below a certain mass can't achieve that shape because they don't have enough gravity. So in general, only objects of a certain mass would end up becoming spherical and therefore being designated as planets.

Those of us who followed the news know what happened next. Other astronomers started protesting about the 12-planet solar system, noting that the new definition would require admitting Charon, Ceres, and UB313 (now Eris) to the solar system as planets. Gingerich made a personal observation that some of this could have been discussed and hammered out better had not the press jumped on the controversy. I believe his exact words were, "The press loves a controversy."

Speaking of which, he also addressed the controversy over the attempt to designate Pluto-type bodies as plutons. He said that he had found the term pluton in an encyclopedia as a geology term, but he figured it wasn't used frequently enough to be a problem because it didn't show up in his Microsoft Word spellchecker.

He also made another important point that I wish I could quote verbatim, but I can't. I'll do my best to paraphrase it correctly. Essentially, he pointed out that much astronomical research is funded by the taxpayers, and that when the public feels strongly about an issue, it behooves the astronomical community to listen carefully before taking any drastic measures. He wasn't saying that the public should get to decide what is or isn't a planet, but that the public does need to be listened to. (Sad to say, it seems as if the members of the IAU who voted weren't in the mood to do so.)

The impression I got was that he would have been happy to have two different classes of planets, in order to keep Pluto a planet. Frankly, I think a lot of people feel similarly. If the IAU had created an overall classification called "planets," and had then created subcategories of "major planets" and "minor planets," I think most people would have been fine with Pluto being designated a minor planet. But they didn't do that.

After the talk, Nomi and I approached him to get our copy of God's Universe autographed, and we presented him with an SP3 mug in appreciation of his efforts on behalf of Pluto. He was delighted by the mug, and set it up on the lectern facing outward. My guess is that he wanted to show it to the second audience for the repeat of his talk. Nomi and I headed up to the observation area, where we had a chance to see Uranus through a Schmidt-Cassegrain reflector. And then, secure in the knowledge that there are folks at the CfA who still support Pluto, we wended our way home.

Copyright © Michael Burstein

[Cross-posted from savepluto]

While we here at the Society for the Preservation of Pluto as a Planet continue our planning for an upcoming announcement, it has come to our attention that there is an event next week that we would like to encourage our supporters in the Boston area to attend.

Next Thursday night, Owen Gingerich, the chair of the Planetary Definition Committee who did his best to keep Pluto designated as a planet, will be speaking at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. We've extracted the following description of the talk from their schedule at http://cfa-www.harvard.edu/ep/obsnight.html

September 21
What Happened to Pluto? Owen Gingerich, CfA
In 2005, astronomers found an object bigger than Pluto in the outer solar system and nicknamed it "Xena." That discovery brought a simmering controversy to a head. Was "Xena" the 10th planet? What is a planet, anyway? Should Pluto qualify, considering how tiny and distant it is? Either "Xena" and Pluto were both in, or they were both out. After heated debate, astronomers decided that they were both out, leaving just eight planets in our solar system. At this lecture, you will get the scoop from Owen Gingerich, the man who was caught between a rock and a hard place as chair of the planet definition committee. He will explain what happened behind the scenes - What Happened to Pluto.

The talk begins at 7:30 PM but doors open at 7 PM and seating is on a first-come, first-serve basis.

The President and Vice-President of Society for the Preservation of Pluto as a Planet plan on attending, and we were hoping that more SP3 members might show up as well, perhaps carrying small signs that read Save Pluto! or Pluto Is A Planet! We want to show Professor Gingerich how much we appreciated his efforts. If you're thinking of attending as a Pluto-supporter, by all means reply to this message and let us know!

And if you want to show your support for Professor Gingerich in other ways, and also read a really cool book in the process, consider picking up a copy of his latest book, God's Universe. Maybe he'll autograph it after the lecture if you ask nicely.

Pluto Is A Planet!
Save Pluto!
Visit our Planet Pluto store for official SP3 merchandise.
Subscribe to our mailing list at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/savepluto/.

Friday evening, shortly before shabbat began, I heard from the Associated Press Reporter that I was quoted in her article on Pluto. For those of you not following savepluto, here's a link to one copy of the article, whose slant can be inferred from the title: Online merchants see green in Pluto news. Because it's an AP article, it's showing up on websites (and presumably newspapers) around the world, and I'm quoted at the very end:

Michael Burstein, who heads the Society for the Preservation of Pluto as a Planet, a grass-roots group formed earlier this year, said he was encouraged by the ruckus.

"If someone is creating 'Save Pluto' T-shirts, more power to them. No one has a monopoly on Pluto," he said.

And here's an amusing tidbit: we hadn't really planned to sell merchandise ourselves until the AP reporter suggested it. So is that a case of the journalists influencing the news?

Moving on, shabbat was relaxing as usual. I spent much of the afternoon reading, and I finished the book Without Precedent: The Inside Story of the 9/11 Commission by Thomas H. Kean and Lee H. Hamilton. Reading it, I get the feeling that Kean wrote most of it, but that he ran the manuscript by Hamilton to make sure Hamilton approved. I have to say, I admire the way Kean promoted Hamilton from vice-chair to co-chair and strongly pushed for the commission to present a united, bipartisan front. He discusses that in the book a lot, and how often Americans would approach commission members and thank them for their bipartisan approach.

Saturday night, Nomi and I watched television.

Sunday morning, I woke up to the expectation that I had lost the two Hugos I was up for. (I figured that had I won, we would have been woken by a phone call from one of my acceptors.) Sure enough, checking the Internet yielded the news that both stories had lost in their categories. Congratulations to all the winners.

The vast majority of Sunday was filled with attending a family get-together in Manchester, Connecticut. The gathering was for the Weiss extended family, and for those of you who are confused, I shall explain. Nomi's step-grandmother was Matilda Weiss, and she had six siblings. Her brother Bob is married to Gloria, of Aunt Gloria's Lasagna (recipe available from Nomi on request). What this means is that we have a lot of relatives whom we are not related to by blood, but by the marriage of Nomi's paternal grandfather to his second wife. We drove to Connecticut, as did Nomi's parents and uncle, and we spent the day with the extended family, catching up and seeing people we haven't seen in a while.

Eventually, we drove home, picked up dinner at Rubin's, and plopped down in front of the television to watch Stargate SG-1. We have now finished season five and have only three more DVD sets to go before we're all caught up. Which will probably be just in time for the series to have come to an end.

Looking back at my journal over the last few weeks, I see that CowParade and the controversy over Pluto's status have been dominating my life. Yesterday gnomi and I actually had a convergence of the two.

Planets first. Yesterday, as anyone reading my blog would know, the IAU voted to demote Pluto to a "dwarf planet." Normally, I'd be blogging about this sort of thing in more detail, but since I set up savepluto that's where most of that blogging is happening. For those of you who are wondering, yes, we are serious about the Society for the Preservation of Pluto as a Planet, but as I noted in savepluto last night, we expected that everything would end with the vote. Instead, after the vote finished, we started to receive more emails of support than we had before, and requests for media interviews. We were also asked if we would be selling merchandise to support Pluto.

I have no idea if any of the media interviews will really lead to anything, but in the meantime, Nomi set up a Cafe Press store called Planet Pluto. If anyone wants to buy a T-shirt or a mug with our official logo, you can do so there. I'm getting a mug for myself.

As for how the IAU vote will affect things at work, saxikath talks about that a bit under Miscellany. The upshot is that no, textbook companies aren't about to make a ton of money from updating our books. But on a personal level, I have to admit that this is the sort of thing that makes my job more fun. We get to play with the textbooks and make some interesting edits. As saxikath says. this is a "teachable moment" for science educators everywhere.

Now to the cows. Earlier this week, Nomi and I photographed the last three CowParade cows that we were missing, so we now have visited, seen, and photographed all 117 official cows plus the one stealth cow designed by Nan Freeman in front of the Bank of America building. Yesterday was the book launch for CowParade Boston: The Cows Have Landed at the Borders in Downtown Crossing, and Nomi and I went during lunch so we could meet some of the artists and get them to sign a copy of the book. We met Howie Green again, and told all the artists how delighted we were by their work. I also told one of the CowParade officials that along with auctioning off the cow statues, it would be nice if they could also auction off a place for people to keep their new purchase.

So for now, that's my personal life. Be back here on Sunday when I when I anticipate announcing that I've lost two more Hugo Awards.

A short time ago, the IAU passed resolutions 5A and 6A, defining what is and isn't a planet. For those who wish to read them, here they are, reposted from the IAU's website:

( Read more... )

So what does this mean for Pluto?

Well, had Resolution 5B passed, we would have had the overall classification of a "planet" that would have had two sub-classifications: "classical planet" and "dwarf planet." By those classifications, we could have used the sentence "Pluto is a planet" with complete scientific accuracy.

But the IAU rejected Resolution 5B. What this means for our solar system is that there are now two separate categories: "planet" and "dwarf planet." Pluto is now a dwarf planet; and it would be technically incorrect to refer to it as a "planet" without the preceding adjective of "dwarf."

I have to say that I am disappointed with this news. I grew up with a nine-planet solar system, and as I was growing up I marveled at the Voyager spacecraft missions that brought us new knowledge and those spectacular pictures of the planets. I was disappointed that we didn't know what Pluto looked like, and I went on record for many years as hoping for a mission to Pluto. I was delighted when the New Horizons spacecraft launched back in January, as we would finally get to see pictures of the planet Pluto.

But by relegating Pluto to "dwarf planet" status, the IAU has changed the emotional impact that such a mission can have.

I believe the IAU's vote could conceivably stifle the imagination of those of us who still wonder at the glories of our solar system, and who reach for the stars. And I hope that in 2009, when the IAU meets again in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, they will reconsider the vote that they have taken today in Prague.

Resolution 6B, establishing the category name "plutonian objects," has failed.

Resolution 6A, "Pluto is a dwarf planet by the above definition and is recognized as the prototype of a new category of trans-Neptunian objects," has passed by a vote of 237-157-30. Pluto is a dwarf planet!

Resolution 5B, which would have created the term "classical planet" to describe the big eight, just failed after a standing vote. What this means is that the solar system now officially has eight "planets" and (should resolution 6A pass) one "dwarf planet," which is Pluto. In essence, Pluto has lost the right to be called a planet along with the others. From now on, if resolution 6A passes, it will have to be known as a dwarf planet.

A bittersweet result for us Pluto supporters.

I'm following the debate live at http://www.astronomy2006.com/media-stream-live.php thanks to sdelmonte. Resolution 5A just passed, and they're debating 5B now.

For more information, also see savepluto.

As many of you know, I've been following the International Astronomical Union's debate over the definition of the word "planet" with great interest. It is no secret that I'd like to see a definition that keeps Pluto as a planet.

Well, as of this morning, the IAU has posted the final resolution on the definition of the word "planet," which they will be voting on today. For convenience, I am quoting the entire resolution (technically four different resolutions) here:

( Read more... )

So if the IAU passes these four resolutions, what does that mean? Well, it means that we would now have two different categories of planet, "classical planet" and "dwarf planet." The classical planets would be Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. Pluto would be considered a dwarf planet and the prototype of a new category of "plutonian objects." Nothing else would be called a planet. It would even seem likely that 2003 UB313 (popularly known as Xena) would not be a planet.

While the resolutions do seem well thought out, it does leave us with an interesting question: Is Pluto a planet? Technically, it is, since it now is considered a new type of planet, a "dwarf planet." But does that mean that we'll refer to an eight-planet solar system once more, or will we still consider our solar system to have nine?

Here's my prediction. How we view the solar system depends on what we learn in school, and Pluto's reduced status as a dwarf planet does not demote it enough to eliminate it from the list entirely. Although textbooks will have to be revised, to make it clear that Pluto is in a new category of planet, I suspect that pictures, tables, and charts of the solar system will continue to show all nine of the planets that we have come to know and love since the 1930s.

As many of you know, last week I announced the existence of the Society for the Preservation of Pluto as a Planet. Our goal is a simple one: to try and make sure that Pluto remains one of the planets of the solar system, no matter how planet is defined. We're serious about our desire to have Pluto remain a planet, but we also tend to acknowledge that there can be humor in the debate.

In what I presume is a response to SP3, some unknown wag has created Demote Pluto!, a website advocating the opposite of what we advocate. I have to admit that I find the website most amusing, especially the part where they suggest that the only solution to the problem is to

LOAD MULTIPLE CLUSTERED 100-MEGATON YIELD THERMONUCLEAR WARHEADS ONTO A SPACECRAFT CALLED NEW HORIZONS II AND AIM IT AT PLUTO AND CHARON! THEY MUST DIE! ONLY THEN CAN THE SOLAR SYSTEM REST SECURE!

I encourage any and all Pluto supporters to visit the website and laugh. And be glad that at least we are brave enough to put our names on record.

savepluto!

As also noted on savepluto, things are getting heated over at the IAU General Assembly...

From Battle of the planet definitions heats up (New Scientist Space):

Of the hundreds of astronomers present, however, a majority opposed the new resolutions, which just like the original definition would admit many new bodies to the rank of planet. If the straw poll taken at the meeting reflects the real voting on Thursday, the resolutions will we thrown out, and there will be no definition at all....

Later, when more questions were prevented, there was a cry of: "If there is democracy, listen to the questions. Let the people speak!" And feathers were further ruffled when planet committee member Richard Binzel of MIT told the delegates: "You can vote based on physics, or maybe you have some preconceived idea of what a planet should be."

Only a day after the Society for the Preservation of Pluto as a Planet announced its existence to the world -- and, oh, yeah, the Planetary Definition Committee of the IAU recommended a definition that would keep Pluto as a planet -- Pluto's status is under attack from all sides. The Anti-Plutonian forces are marching, and we must do our best to keep them at bay.

Please see Under Attack! in the savepluto LiveJournal to see what must be done to defend Pluto from the Anti-Plutonians!

As founding president, I am delighted to announce the establishment of the Society for the Preservation of Pluto as a Planet (SP3). Our goal is simple: to have the world recognize that Pluto is, and of a right ought to be, considered the ninth planet of our solar system.

For more information, please see our website at http://www.plutoisaplanet.org, our blog at http://savepluto.livejournal.com, and our first blog entry at http://savepluto.livejournal.com/475.html.

"Pluto Is A Planet!"

The major news sources are reporting that the Planet Definiton Committee, meeting at the XXVIth General Assembly of the IAU, is recommending a draft defintion of a planet that will include Pluto. (The New York Times article can be found here.)

How do I feel about this? Well, it'll keep Pluto listed as a planet, which I support, but it may very well open up the question of whether Charon, Ceres, and a whole lot of other bodies in our solar system are planets.

So...if you want to know more about my feelings on this matter, watch this space. I'm hoping to have an announcment to make later today. (And that's all I'll say for the moment.)

Pluto's Twins Get Their Names: As the linked article reports, the two new moons of Pluto that were discovered last year are going to receive the official names of Nix and Hydra.

Thanks to shsilver for the link.

And in other news, I still could use assistance in creating a real webpage and finding a host for http://www.plutoisaplanet.org. I envision a front page with pictures, information about our Society for the Preservation of Pluto as a Planet, links to approrpiate pages, arguments in favor, and a donations button to help support our cause.

sdelmonte reports here that the International Astronomical Union plans to define the word "planet" in September. This may lead to the final resolution of Pluto's status, and I worry that they may decide to redefine Pluto as a non-planet. If they take away Pluto's status as a planet, I'm thinking of protesting over at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. I plan to carry a sign on a stick that says "Pluto IS a planet" and chant the following:

P-L-U!
P-L-A!
Pluto as a planet
Is here to stay!

Who wants to join me?

Do others ever find themselves in the same situation I find myself in right now?

I find that there's a whole bunch of things going on I'd love to blog about. From perusing my F-list and RSS feeds, I've found links to an article on the current political parties in Israel; another article on the occultation of the Pleiades by the Moon on Saturday night; another article titled Science-Fiction Novel Posits Future Where Characters Are Hastily Sketched; and a page promoting the Marvel Super Heroes Science Exhibition at the California Science Center.

Not to mention that a car fell into a sinkhole in Brooklyn two days ago.

The problem is, a) I don't have the time to say much about them, and 2) everyone else has linked to these things already, so what's left for me to do?

"We have found an environment that is potentially suitable for living organisms."
--Carolyn Porco, getting the Quotation of the Day in today's New York Times

If any of you have been following space news, you know that yesterday NASA announced that the Cassini space probe had discovered potential liquid water on Enceladus, one of the moons of Saturn. The images of Enceladus show "icy jets and towering plumes," which seem to indicate pockets of liquid water just a few tens of meters below the surface. Enceladus now joins a very exclusive club of solar system bodies that have currently active volcanic activity: Io, Triton, and of course, Earth.

The discovery is a major boon for the good folks at the Cassini Imaging Central Laboratory of Operations. The team leader is a planetary scientist named Dr. Carolyn Porco. Now, this may seem strange to anyone who doesn't know me, but I'm actually a big fan of Dr. Porco and her work. I grew up with the Voyager spacecraft discoveries, and I remember watching Dr. Porco on Nova and various news programs talking about their discoveries. Dr. Porco was a member of the imaging team when Voyager flew past Saturn, and she discovered the connection between the spokes of the rings of Saturn and the planet's magnetic field. She continued to work on the Voyager program as the spacecraft flew by Uranus and Neptune. About half a year after the Voyager program ended, in 1990, she was appointed leader of the Cassini imagining team.

(As an aside, think about the time scales for space science research. The Cassini mission didn't launch until 1997, and didn't reach Saturn until 2004. Can you imagine working for fourteen years on one project that could go wrong at any moment? The mind boggles.)

Throughout the 1990s, whenever I taught Astronomy to my students, I always showed the old Nova episodes about the planets, the ones I myself had thrilled to. I did my best to get across the world's excitement at these discoveries. It was sometimes hard, as the students were too young to remember them. In some cases, the students hadn't even been born yet. But I think I managed.

A little less than two years ago, on Wednesday, April 14, 2004, gnomi and I went to hear Dr. Carolyn Porco speak at the Museum of Science in Boston. I mentioned that we were going, but I never got around to blogging about the speech itself. She spoke about Cassini, of course, and its impending arrival at Saturn. As before, I was impressed by how dynamic she was when she spoke about her field of planetary science.

After her talk, Nomi and I approached her, and I introduced myself as a fan of hers. I'm glad to say she took the statement with equanimity. It's odd, but even though she's a planetary scientist, she does have a fan base, small but intense. She herself hasn't written any books yet (and I'm hoping she will), but she graciously autographed my copy of Lifting Titan's Veil: Exploring the Giant Moon of Saturn by Ralph Lorenz and Jacqueline Mitton (Cambridge University Press) at the beginning of the chapter about the Huygens probe. I thanked her for all her work, told her I had used her story to inspire students of mine, both male and female, to enter science, and wished her the best of luck with Cassini.

And now we get to the power of the Internet. Last night, after I heard the news about Enceladus, I emailed Dr. Porco and congratulated her on their remarkable discovery. Within minutes, she had replied with a brief thank you and answered my question about whether or not she had been the scientist who also discovered the geysers on Triton. (She wasn't, but she had been part of the team.) It took me a few minutes to realize once more what an amazing world we live in, that I, someone with no professional connection to NASA, could email the head of a NASA program my congratulations, and that she would actually receive it.

According to the Cassini Mission FAQ, the program has a total cost of $3.26 billion, with a U.S. contribution of $2.6 billion. Spread over the years of the program, it breaks down to about sixty cents per every American each tax year, if my calculations are correct. That's nine bucks I am delighted to have given over to the federal government in taxes, and I hope you are too.

Congratulations once more to Dr. Porco and the entire Cassini team. You have expanded our horizons yet again.

Seventy-six years ago today, Clyde W. Tombaugh took the first photograph that led to his discovery of the planet Pluto. shsilver, who at the age of 13 met Tombaugh, recounts the story here and talks about meeting Tombaugh.