The experts are divided on the question - whether Pluto, which is remote and smaller than the other eight planets in the solar system, is entitled to the title "planet". The question arose after a larger body known as 2003UB313 was discovered by American astronomers.
June 2008 – The past Neptunian dwarf planets will be Plutoids
Astronomers gathering in the Czech capital, Prague, hope to unequivocally determine the conditions that must exist in a body in order to be defined as a planet. The International Astronomical Union hopes to settle the question of Pluto, which was first discovered in 1930.
The experts are divided on the question - whether Pluto, which is remote and smaller than the other eight planets in the solar system, is entitled to the title "planet". The question arose after a larger body known as 2003UB313 was discovered by American astronomers. If this planet, known by some as "Zina", wins the honorable status of "planet", the number of planets in the solar system can expand to twenty, or be reduced to eight.
However, any decision that is made regarding the status of Pluto will cause shock waves among the scientific community, an immediate change of the textbooks and a change of the accepted concept regarding the basic structure of the solar system, as it is taught in schools.
According to one proposal, scientists should include Pluto in a new classification system, separate from the eight major planets. "Until now it looks like a compromise," said Pavel Suchan, a member of the convention's organizing committee. "Half of the members of the organization want Pluto to remain a planet, and half of them believe that it is not entitled to this designation."
Since the discovery of the ninth planet, astronomers have become aware of a vast community of small icy bodies, reminiscent of Pluto and orbiting the Sun beyond Neptune, in a region known as the Kuiper Belt. Astronomers began to wonder if Pluto does not actually belong to this population of "ice dwarfs", and not precisely to the group known as planets.
Pluto's diameter, 2,360 km, defines as "the smallest of the planets", but until recently, the largest known object was the Kuiper Belt itself. The change occurred with the discovery of 2003 UB313 by Prof. Mike Brown and his colleagues at Caltech. After being observed by the Hubble Space Telescope, it was shown to be about 3,000 kilometers in diameter, meaning it is larger than the ninth planet.
Now the delegations in Prague will be asked to agree for the first time on a formal definition of a planet.
"My feeling is that they will ask to reclassify Pluto. One of the ideas is to turn Pluto into an "ice dwarf". This will be a subdivision of the planetary family and not a different definition like the asteroids." said Peter Bond of Britain's Royal Astronomical Society.
One of the possible results of the meeting is the promotion of Zina in status and rank, and his addition to the official club of the planets.
Some observers even believe that the new definition of planets could include objects smaller than Pluto and feeders. A classification according to this definition can encompass, among others, a workshop and a workshop. Alternatively, if the experts decide that it does not meet the definition, Pluto's status as the ninth planet may be in jeopardy.
"The number of planets can expand to twenty, or more, or be reduced to eight. I guess the majority would prefer not to rob Pluto of its status," Bond said.
About 3,000 astronomers and scientists will gather in Prague, and the issue will be discussed during the conference. The meeting opened yesterday (Monday) and will last 12 days.
