“Just so you know, in my view Pluto is a planet,” NASA administrator says. - NBCNewsMACH
Pluto was discovered in 1930 by Clyde Tombaugh, a young astronomer working at the Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona. Astronomers designated it a planet even though was is unlike the next-farthest planets, the gas giants Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. Pluto was an “oddball at the edge of the solar system” in the words of Brown, who has discovered dozens of small objects beyond the orbit of Neptune.
Clyde Tombaugh poses with the telescope through which he discovered the Pluto at the Lowell Observatory on Observatory Hill in Flagstaff, Ariz. in 1931.Stern isn’t swayed. Not only is Pluto a planet, he says, but so too are the big spherical bodies in the Kuiper belt and, closer to home, some of the largest of the objects in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. If that pushes up the number of planets into the dozens or even the hundreds, so be it.
Caltech astrophysicist Jessie Christiansen shares that point of view. “The argument I don’t agree with is, ‘There would just be too many planets if we let them all be planets,’” she says. “There are 100 billion stars in the galaxy. We didn’t stop calling them stars because the number got too big.” Will Grundy, an astronomer at the Lowell Observatory, says that IAU astronomers reclassified Pluto because they were “freaked out by the prospect of having new planets being announced every year — which is happening because the technology has advanced to the point where we’re discovering all these small, distant things in the outer solar system. But as a planetary scientist, I think it’s fabulous.
The debate is likely to heat up once again — and not just because Bridenstine has weighed in. Astronomers have found tantalizing evidence for the
México Últimas Noticias, México Titulares
Similar News:También puedes leer noticias similares a ésta que hemos recopilado de otras fuentes de noticias.
NASA's Mars Rover Will Fall Asleep Today As The Red Planet Is Swallowed By The SunWhy are NASA's Curiosity rover and the Insight lander about to go quiet? The ‘solar conjunction’ of Mars explained.
Leer más »
Enormous planet with bizarre orbit is unlike anything ever discovered before, astronomers sayThe planet, HR 5183 b, is three times the size of Jupiter and slingshots around its star along an egg-shaped orbit.
Leer más »
NASA is sending a helicopter to Mars. It'll be the first aircraft to fly on another planetNASA said it hopes the helicopter will eventually carry tools around the planet and guide astronauts when they arrive.
Leer más »
Two-thirds of young Republicans fear for environment amid surge in GOP climate change concern, poll showsAn 18 percent surge in environmental concern among young Republicans shows a growing number of GOP voters who say they're worried human behavior is damaging planet Earth.
Leer más »
Trump admin rolls back methane regulations so far even oil and gas companies object'It's the right thing to do for the planet,' wrote the chairwoman and president of BP America in defence of federal regulations.
Leer más »