Palomar's discovery is a real planet

By: North County Times - Editorial | Tuesday, August 16, 2005 7:21 PM PDT ∞

Our view: What have scientists peering into the heavens from Palomar Mountain found? Nothing less than a 10th planet in our solar system. No matter what the skeptics say, this is a truly stellar moment for North County.

A team of Caltech astronomers working at Palomar Observatory announced late last month that they had identified a far-flung lump of rock and ice encircling our sun at an odd angle. The news launched the scientific world into a dizzying orbit of delight and debate.

Should the new planet ---- temporarily dubbed "2003 UB313," but destined for a name with a touch more poetry to it ---- be considered a planet? Or is it just a minor planet, an "exoplanet"? Then again, it could be merely a Kuiper Belt object, after the ring of icy bodies out past Neptune.

Complicating matters, should Pluto, that oddball small rock currently considered our ninth planet, be downgraded? After all, a chorus of critics points out, the recent discovery means there are at least three large objects circling the sun past Pluto, each of which has planetary characteristics to rival Pluto's ---- not to mention a big asteroid between Mars and Jupiter. Maybe, they say, we have but eight planets in our suddenly smaller solar system.

To which we say, "boulderdash!" Pluto should remain a planet. If its selection wasn't perfect, at least time and custom have accepted its planetary stature even if the scientific consensus hasn't. And anything circling our sun that's bigger than Pluto should also be invited into the planetary pantheon.

We follow UC Berkeley astronomy professor Gibor Basri's simple criteria, recently noted in the San Francisco Chronicle: If it's a round object with a mass no larger than 13 Jupiters (any bigger and it's a star) and if it is orbiting another object so big that its interior burns with thermonuclear fusion, it's a planet. Sounds good to us.

Especially because that lets us brag anew about the keen eyes and keener intellects watching the heavens from our favorite local viewpoint, the Palomar Observatory.

The discoverers have already submitted their preferred name to the International Astronomical Union, which has final say on the new rock on the block's status and sobriquet. A popular online poll has drummed up a top 10 list of names that includes everything from "Persephone" and "Peace" to "Bob" and "Spongerock Roundplanet."

Flush with pride, might we suggest "Palomar"?