The Lower Atmosphere of Pluto Revealed 109
Matt_dk writes "Using ESO's Very Large Telescope, astronomers have gained valuable new insights about the atmosphere of the dwarf planet Pluto. The scientists found unexpectedly large amounts of methane in the atmosphere, and also discovered that the atmosphere is hotter than the surface by about 40 degrees, although it still only reaches a frigid minus 180 degrees Celsius. These properties of Pluto's atmosphere may be due to the presence of pure methane patches or of a methane-rich layer covering the dwarf planet's surface."
i see the future (Score:3, Funny)
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For all the trash talk that Pluto has received as, "Not a Real Planet"; it now finds itself to be associated other, blue collar type objects in space. Just how much more can this one little planet take!
>youTubeFoolCrying<Leave Pluto Alone!</youTubeFoolCrying>
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I think GP meant to be insightful.
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Pure methane?--What are they feeding him? Walt Disney?
Re:i see the future (Score:4, Funny)
Re:i see the future (Score:5, Funny)
That's "Gravitationally Challenged" planet, you insensitive clod!
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Your mom is "Gravitationally Challenged"!
Quite a long and interesting article... (Score:2, Funny)
Mostly (Score:4, Funny)
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Shades of Chesley Bonestell, nice image. What is that crescent shaped object visible in the artist's conception? A Death Star? I can't think of anything else that might be out there. Hmmph.
Re:Quite a long and interesting article... (Score:5, Informative)
um, Charon? [wikipedia.org]
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By no strange coincidence 1978 was the year I put away the 4" Reflector and embarked on a futile quest to control my social ineptitude near desirable women. Guess I missed a few things.
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I never saw any of the other planet's moons, my clock drive was broken, that might've helped. Oh, right.. I'd say I did a lot better than I deserved, all things considered.
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I'd say I did a lot better than I deserved, all things considered.
There is your problem, according to what psychology knows nowadays.
To get what you want, you first must believe it yourself. And in a way that makes even others believe it.
If we're still talking about girls: There is no "deserving" in that area. That's only what you learned to be worth.
Get an own system of values. Re-evaluate what you think about stuff. And then stop putting yourself below women.
You are not lower or higher in value than they are. Even the most sexy girl is just a girl. And she can have huge
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Did I mention ineptitude? I don't have esteem issues, other than a realistic idea of the various impressions I give to the majority of people to whom I speak. Heck, I even have several friends. I was not completely unfortunate, genetically, and used to attract some favorable attention, until I'd engage in conversation. Did I mention ineptitude? It was the stuff of comedy. In the main, I learned to edit my choices of conversational topics, which works for short-term relationships ;). Anyway, if you've read m
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Yep, it's kind of sad someone should think they're not as worthy as other men, mainly when the other men in question are like this [hotchicksw...hebags.com]!
Actually, the funny thing is, a lot of girls who are in a serious relationship with some of these douchebags have themselves self-esteem issues, and believe they already have more than they deserve, which is why they'll stay with the scrotewanks they've got.
Ah.. the discrepancies between what people perceive of themselves and what people actually perceive of them..
Re:Charon (Score:2)
Live and learn.
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nix_(moon) [wikipedia.org]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydra_(moon) [wikipedia.org]
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Lots of moons for a little guy! So size doesn't matter.
Not that I'm small or anything... no.
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Imagine growing up on the Charon-facing side of Pluto. One might deduce from one's own empirical observation, within a lifespan of one or so "Pluto years", the nature of our orbital motions, &c. Kind of a beautiful picture in my mind.
Why yes, I have been smoking something... But seriously, Pluto and Charon could communicate by semaphore.
Wow, Pluto and "hot" in the same sentence. (Score:3, Insightful)
What's next, cold spots on Venus (i.e. cold enough that lead is almost solid again)?
Cold is absolute - Hot is relative (Score:3, Informative)
Absolute Gibberish (Score:2)
Hot and cold are both relative terms. Absolute zero is a theoretical temperature at which there is a complete lack of heat. (I say theoretical because it may not be possible to even reach absolute zero in our universe.) While that would likely be described as cold compared to any other temperature, it is not the definition of "cold." If two objects were at absolute zero, then one would
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Just because there's an absolute zero doesn't stop cold from being relative. Absolute zero only gives you one fixed point - where does the sense of scale come from? Is 1K cold? Or 100K, or 1000K? Clearly, our perception of "cold" has nothing to do with absolute zero, but is based on the temperatures we are used to on Earth, which is relative.
Another example is that "light" and "heavy" are relative terms, even though there's an absolute zero for mass. The fact that you can't have negative mass doesn't stop u
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Fuel (Score:1, Interesting)
So Pluto could be a useful fuel source when mankind starts to explore outside the solar system. I wonder in how many years/decades time this will be.
Tim
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Sheep (Score:1)
These properties of Pluto's atmosphere may be due to the presence of pure methane patches or of a methane-rich layer covering the dwarf planet's surface."
These properties may also be do to the presence of sheep on Pluto.
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These properties may also be do to the presence of sheep on Pluto.
Wouldn't it be more likely due to fleas on Pluto?
What have we learned? (Score:1, Redundant)
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methane doesn't smell of anything. its the other stuff such as SO2 that causes farts to smell.
if methane smelt bad we wouldn't have to add thiols(really stinky molecules) to mains gas to detect leaks.
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Rubbing it in (Score:3, Funny)
Aww, come on, you guys are just rubbing it in now!
So... (Score:4, Insightful)
Eris (Score:4, Informative)
If Pluto gets called a planet, then Eris [wikipedia.org] would also be called a planet, since it is bigger than Pluto. Otherwise "Planet" would be a very arbitrary definition.
Re:Eris (Score:5, Funny)
Eris should be called a planet.
If you don't invite her to the party, there will be hell to pay.
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Come on, be fair: Eris is so gracious that she gives out lovely golden apples even when she's not invited to the party.
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I tip my hat to you; a more excellent reply. (The most excellent reply will of course go to that which is the fairest of them all.)
I've only now just noticed the kallistei references in the Disney rendition of Snow White. That is most interesting. Were the the Disney artists followers of the Sacred Chao? That would explain a few things.
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It's not the size, its the shape and clearing of orbit. If we drop the clearing orbit and Pluto and Eris are in the club, so should be Ceres, Makemake and Haumea at least. I would like them all to go back to planet status, but it's unlikely. It's all the fault of Eris anyway, they wouldn't have reclassified poor Pluto if she was a little slimmer.
Pluto will always remain a planet to me. I'll start calling it a dwarf planet around the time I call 2^10 bytes a kibibyte or when hell freezes over, whichever come
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But the deeper point is that, given our knowledge of astronomy, pretty much any definition of "planet" is arbitrary.
There's tons of stuff moving around in space, at all sorts of sizes, shapes, physical compositions, distributions of matter, trajectories, etc. They're trying to draw a line such that space-stuff on one side of the line count as "plan
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No matter how carefully and precisely they draw the line, it is still hopelessly arbitrary: why draw the line here and not there?
Because drawing the line "here" (as in Pluto not being a planet because it hasn't cleared its orbit of debris, among other things) makes it much easier to decide than drawing the line "there" (as in "we found this big spheroid and we decided it was a planet, and now we know there are many things around the same size or bigger, but we don't want to turn back").
That just begs the question (Score:1)
This begs the question of why draw any line at all. Nature doesn't draw a line between planets and non-planets; why should scientists be so gung-ho o
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This begs the question of why draw any line at all. Nature doesn't draw a line between planets and non-planets; why should scientists be so gung-ho on drawing one?
Simplicity: either there's a clear distinction between the Kuiper Belt objects and the planets or there isn't. If there isn't, then we will have to contend with so many planets it's not even funny. It's much simpler to drop just one planet and get some clear criteria on the side.
You should remember that not everything in science is prediction models: there are lots of categories that make talking about everything much simpler. According to your "laws of physics" argument, why should we even bothe
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"A dwarf planet, as defined by the International Astronomical Union (IAU), is a celestial body orbiting the Sun that is massive enough to be rounded by its own gravity but has not cleared its neighbouring region of planetesimals and is not a satellite."
By this definition, Neptune isn't a planet, it's a dwarf planet, because it hasn't cleared Pluto out of it's neighbouring region...
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From the GP:
do we let the definition become so strict that soon nothing qualifies as a planet anymore?
are people's sarcasm detectors malfunctioning today?
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Do you really want to memorize over 100 countries? NO! There should only be one per continent!
Re:So... (Score:5, Insightful)
If we get too picky then Earth will be the Only planet as nothing else will fit the description of Earth.
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This is why we have different categories of planets.
Earth is the only Class M planet in the solar system.
Of course, with terraforming, Mars might join us in that someday.
Looking through: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Class_M_planet
It seems like pluto should be a class K, or possibly a class D.
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I would think that a planet could be defined as having a regular orbit, with only slight variance. "Slight" of course being subjective, but by no definition would Pluto's eccentricity be considered slight.
Also, it might be required to be in the orbital plane, but that would require at least two other planetary bodies.
Yuggoth (Score:1)
Cowabunga (Score:1, Troll)
Well, obviously there must be super cool space cows living on Pluto - if we have to believe that all hydrocarbons are the result of organic life - and not the other way around.
It sounds like we really need to start working on reversing the anthropogenic global warming of Pluto.
liquid methane (Score:2)
Re:liquid methane (Score:5, Informative)
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What makes you think the pressure on Pluto is the same as on Earth? I would assume the pressure even at the surface is close to zero.
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However, the triple-point of methane is at about 0.1 atm which means that methane cannot exist in liquid form anyway given the very low atmospheric pressure on Pluto (1/100,000 atm or less). If you reduce the temperature by just a few degrees the gaseous methane will deposit as a solid, without passing through the liquid phase and in fact, solid methane is found on the surface of pl
All of those pollutants! (Score:1, Troll)
Gee, the solar system is filled methane, hydrogen, and carbon dioxide. If we are to say that were are going to a natural universe, then, if anything is a pollutant, it is our planet's low CO2 and low methane atmosphere.
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Not to mention all the sulfuric acid, which is keeping Venus's atmosphere so fresh and healthy. For instance, asthma is completely nonexistent on Venus!
We were doing a nice job increasing sulfur content of Earths atmosphere, until those tree-hugger wackos got sulfur emissions severely restricted... And now they're trying to do it to CO2 as well! They must be stopped!
Methane? (Score:2)
It must be dwarf cows! Herds of tiny bovines roam Pluto's surface. It takes seven of them to make the galaxy's most expensive burger.
Dwarf Planet?!? (Score:2)
Intriguing (Score:1)
Methane and the presence of life (Score:2)
The presence of methane on Mars is considered a strong indicator of some form of current life there.
http://www.universetoday.com/2004/03/30/whats-creating-the-methane-life-or-volcanoes/ [universetoday.com]
While there are natural processes that can produce it, it decays quickly and so it is more likely that an organism is providing consistent replenishment.
However, I don't think anyone expects that Pluto would be able to support life--too too cold. Is there some explanation for natural forming, and natural persisting, on Pluto
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Why make assumptions? 'Extremeophiles' are found damn near everywhere. Bactiera surviving on equipment left on the Moon for years, entire ecosystems around deep-water volcanos that everybody knows could never exist due to a) extreme temperature, and b) lack of sunlight...
Titan all over again? (Score:1)
Interesting result (Score:2)
Pluto Express, due to arrive in 2
It's cold out there (Score:1)
With Apologies to Jonathan Coulton (Score:2)
I'm Your Moon
- Jonathan Coulton
They invented a reason
That's why it stings
They don't think you matter
Because you don't have pretty rings
I keep telling you I don't care
I keep saying there's one thing they can't change
I'm your moon
You're my moon
We go round and round
From out here, it's the rest of the world that looks so small
Promise me
You will always remember who you are
Let them shuffle the numbers
Watch them come and go
We're the ones who are out here
Out past the edge of what they know
We can only be who we are
I
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Also I'd like to point out that jumping down someone's throat for making a joke, especially as an AC, makes you an asshole.
There fixed that for you.
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There, fixed that for you.
Seriously...with THAT big a target...
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If you want to go on a website to mock nerds for something you're not interested in... well, you've certainly come to the wrong place.
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While the AC may just be trolling for a reaction, there is something in the general culture, even within science, to what he says.
Some years back, I spent the night as a layman at the UNAM observatory in Baja, with some astrophysicists taking measurements of Cepheid Variables in Andromeda. At some point, I asked one of the team members a question about recent developments in planetary astronomy (probably something to do with Cassini), check out his reply: "No idea, because as astrophysicists, we find smal
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I won't pretend the hypothesis was accepted immediately but once the Yucatan crater was identified (by a satellite looking down, but that's more engineering than astronomy surely?) that was pretty much the clincher.
However it is good science w