did you know there are officially 11 planets, not 9?

[grapedrink]

i didn't. pluto is now considered a dwarf planet, beyond it is eris, and between mars and jupiter is ceres.

[AlpineJunkie]

Actually officially there are 8 planets not 9... or 11.

[Hutch]

who makes it "official"?

[Tippster]

Grapedrink's mom.

[AlpineJunkie]

who makes it "official"?

They do.

[grapedrink]

the international astronomical union.. 8 'regular' planets and 3 dwarf planets.

[Steven S. Dallas]

the international astronomical union.. 8 'regular' planets and 3 dwarf planets.

Excuse me, but the US of A will not be dictated to by some pussy-ass "international union"- particularly one that has scientists running it. There are eight planets- Earth, Jupiter, Saturn, Mars, the Sun, the Moon, Uranus, and Melmac. And that's final.

[AlpineJunkie]

the international astronomical union.. 8 'regular' planets and 3 dwarf planets.

Dude there are 8 planets. They only put those "dwarf" labels in there because the media threw a hissy fit when they reverted back to 8. They are basically just asteroids part of an asteroid belt and they estimate that Pluto isn't even the biggest one. They say there could be hundreds if not thousands of Pluto-sized asteroids in the same belt that Pluto is in.

[woodstocksez]

I'm confused by all of this. Obviously I need to go back to elementary school.

[72Twenty]

YOUR ANUS!!!!

[The AD]

There are eight planets- Earth, Jupiter, Saturn, Mars, the Sun, the Moon, Uranus, and Melmac. And that's final.

Dude, if you had any knowledge at all you'd know Melmac blew up sometime in the '80s. It's too bad, too, because Melmac had the best planetary motto going: "Are you going to finish that sandwich?"

[pechelman]

firstly, who cares how many "planets" there are
its a label given by astronomers masturbating over technicalities
now that a precedent has been set that they can change their mind with Pluto, watch out, cause they wont hesitate to do it again (as already proven)

who makes it "official"?

who else?

[woodstocksez]

now that a precedent has been set that they can change their mind with Pluto, watch out, cause they wont hesitate to do it again (as already proven)

This concerns me. Is Earth in danger of being downgraded? Because if that happens, I bet the Martians will take that to mean that it's OK to conquer us.

Everyone, brush up on your Slim Whitman!

[pechelman]

no, we wont be downgraded, but maybe scientists will change their mind about the whole heliocentric thing again after Captain Planet sets them straight.

[RootSkier]

I heard the 10th planet is named Pechelmen, and the 11th is named Pechelman's Largest Turd.

[Rontele]

Excuse me, but the US of A will not be dictated to by some pussy-ass "international union"- particularly one that has scientists running it. There are eight planets- Earth, Jupiter, Saturn, Mars, the Sun, the Moon, Uranus, and Melmac. And that's final.

You fucking kill me, Dallas.

[PaSucks]

Damn it there are 9 planets. Screw that crap about dropping Pluto as a planet. I don't buy it.

[ProHoHater]

Well how ever many there now, eventually there will be three less, including earth.

Space.com

"A new calculation predicts that Earth as well as Venus and Mercury will be swallowed up by the sun in 7.6 billion years"

Want to talk global warming, stick around for a billion years when the average temp on the surface will be in the hundreds of degrees and the oceans boil off as the sun runs out of is nuclear fuel and goes red giant on our asses.

[Adolf Allerbush]

I'm gonna call bullshit. I think there are thousands maybe bazillions of planets in the universe.

[Theodore]