The British Geological Survey (BGS) said the epicentre of the 5.3 magnitude quake was near Market Rasen in Lincolnshire, and occurred at 00:56 GMT.
Archive for the 'Science' Category
Planetary geologists are claiming that the IAU’s vote, that has demoted Pluto and friends from planet status to mere dwarfs, was hijacked by the dynamicists, astronomers who are more interested in motion and gravitational effects of celestial bodies. In my post last week at the start of the IAU’s 10day General Assembly in Prague, I predicted that they were “lacking the balls to demote pluto“. It seems that they heard me and it all kicked off. At the end of a heated 10days we find ourselves throwing out the old science textbooks.
Mike Brown seemed happy with Pluto’s demotion. “Eight is enough,” he told the Associated Press, jokingly adding: “I may go down in history as the guy who killed Pluto.” - BBC News
BUT it isn’t the end of anything. Pluto, surely has the gravity to attract a great band of loyal followers if not much else, is appealing the decision. This new ruling and definition is far from set in stone. The number of voters on the final day in prague was only 10% of the Assembly and a meagre 4% of Astronomers beyond that.
Word on the street is that you can buy bumper stickers saying “Honk if Pluto is still a planet!”
Reading the papers this week I have been excited by the proposition that teany weany Pluto would be finally relieved of it’s planetary status. But alas it seems Pluto gets to stay.
The proposal says two conditions must be met: it must orbit a star without being a star itself, and it has to be big enough for its gravity to pull it into a spherical shape. The Guardian.
This tidies our solar system up in to 12 planets; 4 terrestial (Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars), 4 gas giants (Jupiter, Saturn, Neptune, Uranus), and 4 plutons (Ceres, Pluto, Charon, ‘Xena’). On top of lacking the balls to demote Pluto, they are even planning to name the 4 smaller bodies after it! For those interested Ceres is found in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. Charon is Pluto’s moon, though this has been under debate while some people see it as a twin body. UB313, nicknamed Xena after the Warrior Princess (aren’t those astrologists cool?!), is found beyond Pluto.
Personally, I was hoping for 4 planets, but there are already plans to promote another 12 bodies from the Kuiper belt to planetary status. How many do they want? It will no longer be special to be called a planet.