Planetary decision delayed until at least August, 2006

February 1st, 2006

Although the IAU determined in late 2005 that an object can be considered a planet if it is at least the size of Pluto, it decided to ask the Division of Planetary Sciences (DPS) of the American Astronomical Society for its recommendation as well. The IAU will be meeting in Prague in August, 2006, where a final decision should be made. Hopefully, at that time, we will have official confirmation that the tenth planet really is the tenth planet! :)

This entry was posted on Wednesday, February 1st, 2006 at 3:49 pm and is filed under Tenth Planet. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

6 Responses to “Planetary decision delayed until at least August, 2006”

  1. Tali Says:
    February 19th, 2006 at 12:07 am

    If an object at least the size of Pluto can be considered a planet and we do have a “10th Planet” then we have a lot more planets to be named because there are objects in the Kuiper Belt at least the size of Pluto if not larger. Will the IAU name all of them as well? And if so, how will they decide names. I personally like the pneumoic devices we have developed to memorize the planets and it would be a shame to mess with them and screw them up.

  2. Administrator Says:
    February 25th, 2006 at 11:53 pm

    It’s not just the size that counts. It’s also other factors, such as whether or not the object orbits the sun, whether or not the object is round, etc.

  3. primvs pilvs Says:
    March 2nd, 2006 at 9:48 am

    I think some astronomers are trying to make things overly complicated. Make it simple, if its spherical and its not a star it’s a planet unless it orbits a planet. Size should not be relevant, a star a thousand times smaller than another is still a star.
    Some think that Pluto shouldn’t be a planet because its so much smaller than Earth. If we lived on Jupiter would it be right to say that Earth is not a planet?
    A lot of people have stated that it matters where the body is located. Why? A car alone in the desert is still as much a car as one in a traffic jam.
    So what if we have to change the nine planets to the ten or twenty or whatever.

  4. bob Says:
    March 16th, 2006 at 12:34 am

    yea i agree

  5. WHESU EMMANUEL Says:
    January 31st, 2009 at 2:45 pm

    I WILL LIKE TO BE FED WITH MORE INFO ABOUT THIS TENTH PLANET AND MORE SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERIES AS WELL.
    THANKS.
    WHESU

  6. whesu emmanuel mesoji Says:
    April 17th, 2009 at 9:23 am

    Apart from the XENA planet is there any new scientific discovery of the century?

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