August 18, 2006 – (Manila) – Ever since I was a child, I have always been fascinated with space and what lies beyond the vast heaven above this planet we call Earth.
This fascination was further enhanced with science fiction, not of the kind where weird looking species land on Earth and zap & eat humans, nor did I get attached to the George Lucas concept of “a galaxy far, far away,” but instead I’ve grown fond of the Gene Roddenbery vision of a community of species united under one banner as dramatized in “Star Trek.”
The late sci-fi novelist Carl Sagan had another take on space and he was a believer that there are other intelligent species out there or planets that are occupied by living beings.
In the 1997 film, “Contact,” based on a Carl Sagan novel with the same title, astronomist and scientist Eleonor Arroway said before children visiting the New Mexico telescope array that with the vastness of space, “it would be such a waste of space,” if there were no other intelligent species out there.
Some ten years have passed when the science community was in hyper drive over the prospects that living species inhabited our neighboring planet Mars but all that hope and expectations were dismissed earlier this year as a matter that needs to be proven until man could actually walk on Mars.
For almost fifty or so years, science classrooms have displayed charts and images of a solar system, our home system that there are only nine planets revolving the star called “Sol.”
In the 70 years that passed since the planet Pluto was discovered, and added as the ninth official planet of the Solar System, its distance, apparent small size and vagueness through the large and getting powerful telescopes on Earth have been subject to a debate on the question whether or not it is actually a planet in the same class as Earth, Mars, Mercury and the largest of them all, Jupiter.
The Hubble Space Telescope floating in Earth’s atmosphere, the troublesome giant lens in space, often experiencing technical problems have brought some new insights on what this Solar system is made of.
Pluto, often maligned and dismissed as large piece of ice ball in the farthest region of this system has been revealed through Hubble that it might not be as insignificant after all.
From the Hubble perspective to the scientific process of “Doppler” effect, Pluto and it’s supposedly companion moon Charon is now getting a new boost, a new degree of attention, finally being acknowledged as a real planet.
Scientific discoveries and observations since last year, 2005 has indicated that Pluto and its supposed moon Charon, might be a double planet, since Charon is close to the size of Pluto.
The two objects are being viewed as a dual planet sharing a same orbit and are perpetually linked together gravitationally.
In 2005, observers of Pluto have declared that Charon is not Pluto’s moon but instead there are two other objects orbiting Pluto and these are the moons named Nix and Hydra.
A decade ago, Charon, Pluto’s supposed companion was being named as Planet X or the tenth planet while others see that there could be something else larger and farther than Pluto that is causing strange gravitational phenomena in that region of space.
This summer of 2006, scientists are finally getting a new theory into place and the issue whether Pluto is a planet, or Charon is Planet X or another mysterious planet at the far end of this solar system have become irrelevant.
Moreso, the concept that this solar system has nine planets would have to be changed and the entire concept of planets and its definition would have to change all together.
Dr. Michael Brown of the California Institute of Technology, Professor of Planetary Astronomy indicated this week that a vote among scientist will come to a passage and finally put a rest to the age old question on Pluto being a planet.
Brown on a television interview have indicated that once the vote has been passed, a formal scientific definition of planet will be put into place, after 2,500 years of humanity’s star gazing.
Brown said during an interview with Australia’s ABC, “finally, for the first time, (there – sic) will be a definition. The definition simply states that anything in the solar system that's sufficiently large that it has enough gravitational pull that it pulls itself into the shape of a sphere, that that object should be called a planet.”
The new definition will result in the elevation of over fifty or so objects in this Solar system to the title or definition of “planet.”
Much concern has been placed on the impact of this decision where it could result into confusion among the public and whether the relevance or significance (for some the romance) of only having nine planets in this system, or bottom line, a handful of planets would soon be dismissed thereby creating a level of insignificance & irrelevance on planets.
Dr. Brown said that it is an exciting time among astronomers but in a way, there are no new discoveries, as the whole Solar system stays the same and the preposition on defining planets is just an introduction of a new universally accepted concept.
“And so in some ways this is purely semantics. By changing the definition of the word planet and adding a hundred planets, you haven't actually done anything to the solar system itself. So the solar system is still the same place it always was.,” Brown explained.
Should the new definition become a standard for astronomers, a new way of thinking, perhaps will establish an all new perspective on how man sees space.
A generation from now, kids in earthy science classes would not only memorize the names of the nine major planets but fifty others or so within this Solar system and not including the others that scientists have “discovered” in other star systems.
With the new definition for planets, we don't need to go as far as Pluto and Charon, here on Earth, for generations, from the days man was still emerging from caves, the Moon has always been there and defined as a Moon ... generic as the Moon, and with the forthcoming vote on August 24 among members of the International Astronomical Union or IAU, will the Moon be called Planet Moon from now on? Earth is a moonless planet now?
In the world of the television series, “Star Trek,” this would mean more planets to include in its exploration, a completely new meaning to everything and if Mr. Spock was as real and is actually here, he could simply say, “Fascinating!” Amen to that.
This fascination was further enhanced with science fiction, not of the kind where weird looking species land on Earth and zap & eat humans, nor did I get attached to the George Lucas concept of “a galaxy far, far away,” but instead I’ve grown fond of the Gene Roddenbery vision of a community of species united under one banner as dramatized in “Star Trek.”
The late sci-fi novelist Carl Sagan had another take on space and he was a believer that there are other intelligent species out there or planets that are occupied by living beings.
In the 1997 film, “Contact,” based on a Carl Sagan novel with the same title, astronomist and scientist Eleonor Arroway said before children visiting the New Mexico telescope array that with the vastness of space, “it would be such a waste of space,” if there were no other intelligent species out there.
Some ten years have passed when the science community was in hyper drive over the prospects that living species inhabited our neighboring planet Mars but all that hope and expectations were dismissed earlier this year as a matter that needs to be proven until man could actually walk on Mars.
For almost fifty or so years, science classrooms have displayed charts and images of a solar system, our home system that there are only nine planets revolving the star called “Sol.”
In the 70 years that passed since the planet Pluto was discovered, and added as the ninth official planet of the Solar System, its distance, apparent small size and vagueness through the large and getting powerful telescopes on Earth have been subject to a debate on the question whether or not it is actually a planet in the same class as Earth, Mars, Mercury and the largest of them all, Jupiter.
The Hubble Space Telescope floating in Earth’s atmosphere, the troublesome giant lens in space, often experiencing technical problems have brought some new insights on what this Solar system is made of.
Pluto, often maligned and dismissed as large piece of ice ball in the farthest region of this system has been revealed through Hubble that it might not be as insignificant after all.
From the Hubble perspective to the scientific process of “Doppler” effect, Pluto and it’s supposedly companion moon Charon is now getting a new boost, a new degree of attention, finally being acknowledged as a real planet.
Scientific discoveries and observations since last year, 2005 has indicated that Pluto and its supposed moon Charon, might be a double planet, since Charon is close to the size of Pluto.
The two objects are being viewed as a dual planet sharing a same orbit and are perpetually linked together gravitationally.
In 2005, observers of Pluto have declared that Charon is not Pluto’s moon but instead there are two other objects orbiting Pluto and these are the moons named Nix and Hydra.
A decade ago, Charon, Pluto’s supposed companion was being named as Planet X or the tenth planet while others see that there could be something else larger and farther than Pluto that is causing strange gravitational phenomena in that region of space.
This summer of 2006, scientists are finally getting a new theory into place and the issue whether Pluto is a planet, or Charon is Planet X or another mysterious planet at the far end of this solar system have become irrelevant.
Moreso, the concept that this solar system has nine planets would have to be changed and the entire concept of planets and its definition would have to change all together.
Dr. Michael Brown of the California Institute of Technology, Professor of Planetary Astronomy indicated this week that a vote among scientist will come to a passage and finally put a rest to the age old question on Pluto being a planet.
Brown on a television interview have indicated that once the vote has been passed, a formal scientific definition of planet will be put into place, after 2,500 years of humanity’s star gazing.
Brown said during an interview with Australia’s ABC, “finally, for the first time, (there – sic) will be a definition. The definition simply states that anything in the solar system that's sufficiently large that it has enough gravitational pull that it pulls itself into the shape of a sphere, that that object should be called a planet.”
The new definition will result in the elevation of over fifty or so objects in this Solar system to the title or definition of “planet.”
Much concern has been placed on the impact of this decision where it could result into confusion among the public and whether the relevance or significance (for some the romance) of only having nine planets in this system, or bottom line, a handful of planets would soon be dismissed thereby creating a level of insignificance & irrelevance on planets.
Dr. Brown said that it is an exciting time among astronomers but in a way, there are no new discoveries, as the whole Solar system stays the same and the preposition on defining planets is just an introduction of a new universally accepted concept.
“And so in some ways this is purely semantics. By changing the definition of the word planet and adding a hundred planets, you haven't actually done anything to the solar system itself. So the solar system is still the same place it always was.,” Brown explained.
Should the new definition become a standard for astronomers, a new way of thinking, perhaps will establish an all new perspective on how man sees space.
A generation from now, kids in earthy science classes would not only memorize the names of the nine major planets but fifty others or so within this Solar system and not including the others that scientists have “discovered” in other star systems.
With the new definition for planets, we don't need to go as far as Pluto and Charon, here on Earth, for generations, from the days man was still emerging from caves, the Moon has always been there and defined as a Moon ... generic as the Moon, and with the forthcoming vote on August 24 among members of the International Astronomical Union or IAU, will the Moon be called Planet Moon from now on? Earth is a moonless planet now?
In the world of the television series, “Star Trek,” this would mean more planets to include in its exploration, a completely new meaning to everything and if Mr. Spock was as real and is actually here, he could simply say, “Fascinating!” Amen to that.
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