planet Pluto petition
by John at 9/01/2006 02:09:00 PM
Several hundred researchers have signed a petition to overturn the definition of "planet" made at the IAU meeting in Prague last week. I've discussed the reasons for this previously.
Anyway, this is interesting*. The scientists are organizing a conference for mid-2007 that would attempt to fix what they think is a flawed definition. Their new definition would probably be at odds with the official definition made by the IAU. This is a kind of scientific mutiny!
I wonder what makes the IAU one the official definition - some kind of international treaty? Just convention? I've googled around a little bit but I can't find anything except that "The IAU also serves as the internationally recognized authority for assigning designations to celestial bodies."
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* Yeah, probably not.
Anyway, this is interesting*. The scientists are organizing a conference for mid-2007 that would attempt to fix what they think is a flawed definition. Their new definition would probably be at odds with the official definition made by the IAU. This is a kind of scientific mutiny!
I wonder what makes the IAU one the official definition - some kind of international treaty? Just convention? I've googled around a little bit but I can't find anything except that "The IAU also serves as the internationally recognized authority for assigning designations to celestial bodies."
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* Yeah, probably not.
