[extropy-chat] Solar System Planets - unsatisfied

The Avantguardian avantguardian2020 at yahoo.com
Fri Aug 25 03:44:55 UTC 2006



--- Amara Graps <amara at amara.com> wrote:

> Dear Extropes,
> 
> There needed to be a separate category for Ceres and
> Pluto, it
> seems, so in the final vote of the International
> Astronomical Union,
> today, Ceres, Pluto and Charon were thrown out of
> the basic
> planet category, and now we have one less.
> 
> (Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn,
> Uranus and Neptune)

Did they consider the scaling of the solar system when
they made their decision? I have been doing some
statistical analysis of the orbital mechanics of the
planets in order to more accurately determine some
factors of the Drake equation. As part of my research,
I discovered that, although the Titus-Bode law fails
to predict Neptune, it is essentially right just
horribly inaccurate.

As you can calculate from my attached figure based on
the SMA's of the "planets" you can see that the true
Titus-Bode Law should be closer to

SMA=46.3175(1.70460)^n. 

(Note this only works for distances in solar radii
although in fact a change in units changes the factor
out in front but not the base of the exponential.)

I am working on a theory of statistical astromechanics
that generalizes this invariant scaling of matter on
large scales. The current "dogma" has little to say
about the "almost success" of the Titus-Bode law. 

The new law is far more accurate and more begging of a
theoretical explanation which I have been ruminating
about some time now. I am trying to throw together a
manuscript of some of my findings. Anyone know what
would be the best journal to submit to? (I am more
familiar with the biology journals).

In any case, I think that the current definition of
planet to be unsatisfactory. I think that
pluto-charon, earth-luna, and Xena and its moon should
all be classified as binary planets.

Stuart LaForge
alt email: stuart"AT"ucla.edu

"The 'I' is an illusion but that illusion needs to be experienced, and it is only by experience that it can be known as an illusion."

- Shankarachanya

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