Observing Guide

Hi all,

I want to take a straw poll of your views on something. As you know tomorrow if the IAU vote Yes - we will have 12 planets. I would like to know whether you think I should incorporate any or all the new planets into the observing guide I do? My view is that including Ceres is sensible, as would any future asteroidal belt objects which get reclassified, but I think the Plutons - Pluto, Xena and Charon are so dim - mag +14 and over that they are hard to see unless you have very large telescopes and aren't worth putting in, or shall I just keep it at the existing 9 which we all know?

Your input is appreciated

Neill

I was actually wondering about this myself! I do the night sky section on the DCU Astrosoc website.

Currently I include the 9 objects we regard as planets as of today, and have included them in September's guide that I put online yesterday. But if the IAU vote yes then I think I'll just do Mercury-Neptune (although I do have tables plotted for Pluto through to the end of the year).

I'm not sure about Ceres either. It depends what exactly it's classified as. If I'm ignoring all the 'Plutons' and Ceres is shoved in with them then I guess I'll be ignoring it too. There'll be way too many Plutons to keep an eye on, especially if the group is likely to rapidly increase to 24, or 53 or whatever ridiculous number of objects people are throwing around. If Ceres is considered a planet in its own right but not a Pluton, which wouldn't make sense to me cause it's smaller than Pluto, then I'll be including it from October.

However, I am also open to suggestions and other people's opinions on whether there would be a better course of action.

Dwane.

Neill

Until the IAU decision is voted on and decided, I'd leave it as it is. I think that whatever their decsion there will be plenty of argument for months to come - from all sides of the debate. Clearly it is an issue that has generated (sometimes strong) opinions of all shapes and sizes. I'd expect the dust won't settle for some months (with background noise going on for far longer...). I'd sit it out until there is clear guidance and a concrete position.

When the dust settles, if the decision is that we have three new planets then I'd include them all but perhaps footnote the dimmest as being attainable only by large telescopes.

If they decide we now have 53 planets, you've a lot of typing to do...

€0.02

I'd be inclined to go with what the IAU says. Who are we mere mortals to argue! For the plutons you could just include a one liner saying 'This planet is not suited to backyard observation' or something like that.

For the plutons you could just include a one liner saying 'This planet is not suited to backyard observation' or something like that.

Looks like 'Plutons' may have been rejected as a descriptor...

thank god !!