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IAU: La planète Pluton

In conjuring up a new category of planets to be known as "plutons" to tidy away Pluto and its cousins, the International Astronomical Union has attracted a hail of criticism.

My colleague Geoff Brumfiel reports here on the angry reaction of one geologist who studys a type of rock formation already known as a "pluton". This geologist was concerned at the term being hijacked, and he's not the only one upset.

My dinner companions tonight included some (very tired) members of the planet definition committee. They said that they'd received hundreds of emails over the past few days from geologists complaining about the use of "pluton" in the proposed planet definition. Many of these emails, they noted, came from Australia. Is someone over there running a campaign?

Another problem has emerged in translation. The french name for Pluto is -- you've guessed it -- Pluton. The definition committee thought this linguistic borrowing would give the pluton label special appeal for French-speaking astronomers, but apparently some object.

All this leads to speculation that tomorrow's revised definition, whatever other changes it contains, will include a replacement word for "pluton".

Posted by on August 21, 2006
Categories: International Astronomical Union | | Comments (7) | TrackBacks (1)

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Tracked on August 22, 2006 03:07 PM

Comments

If Pluto-like objects are to be called plutons, what will be the name for the double-pluton system Pluto-Charon?

Borrowing from the nomenclature of atomic and elementary particle phyics, where analogous pairs are known as positronium or charmonium, it will be, well, plutonium...

Posted by: Stefan Scherer | August 22, 2006 12:34 PM

Good news

I hope everybody read this article

thanks

Posted by: oyunlar | April 26, 2007 06:48 PM

Borrowing from the nomenclature of atomic and elementary particle phyics, where analogous pairs are known as positronium or charmonium, it will be, well, plutonium...


Good news

I hope everybody read this article

thanks

Posted by: yarisma | October 4, 2007 06:28 PM

Many of these emails, they noted, came from Australia. Is someone over there running a campaign?

Posted by: oyun | October 30, 2007 12:51 AM

Borrowing from the nomenclature of atomic and elementary particle phyics, where analogous pairs are known as positronium or charmonium, it will be, well, plutonium

Posted by: Oyun | May 8, 2008 05:07 AM

Many of these emails, they noted, came from Australia. Is someone over there running a campaign?

Posted by: Otel | June 1, 2008 11:29 PM

Many of these emails, they noted, came from Australia. Is someone over there running a campaign?

Posted by: arkadas | November 21, 2008 02:13 PM

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