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Dwarf Planet Near Pluto Gets a Name Reuters posted: 4 MINUTES AGO comments: 39 PrintShare filed under: Science News Text SizeAAA WASHINGTON (July 20) - A dwarf planet orbiting beyond Neptune has been designated the third plutoid in the solar system and given the name Makemake, the International Astronomical Union said on Saturday. The red methane-covered dwarf planet formerly known as 2005 FY9 or "Easterbunny" is named after a Polynesian creator of humanity and god of fertility. Amazing Space Images R. Hurt, JPL-Caltech / NASA An illustration shows the recently named Makemake, a dwarf planet discovered in 2005 and previously called 2005 FY9. It is slightly smaller than Pluto, and like Pluto, orbits beyond Neptune. Click through the images to see some amazing space photos. 1 of 32PHOTOS Just last month the IAU, which names planets and other heavenly bodies, decided to create a new class of sub-planets called plutoids. Pluto, demoted from planet status, and Eris are the other two plutoids. A fourth dwarf planet named Ceres has been excluded from the plutoid club because it orbits in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. Makemake is just slightly smaller and dimmer than Pluto and was discovered in 2005. "The orbit is not particularly strange, but the object itself is big, probably about two-thirds the size of Pluto," said Mike Brown of the California Institute of Technology, who discovered and named Makemake (pronounced MAH-keh MAH-keh). It was the discovery of these trans-Neptunian objects that led the IAU to re-designate just what it meant to be a planet. Brown said the name came to him when he was looking for a mythological god and thought of the South Pacific's Easter Island. Makemake was the chief god among people who settled the island. Reporting by Maggie Fox; editing by Todd Eastham Copyright 2008, Reuters 2008-07-19 18:41:03

This came out of the Big Bang discussion, but it was a bit of a tangent so I thought I would start a separate topic. Basically it's for links to astronomy audio clips. Here's a few to start, Magnetometer reading of the Earth's aurora, From Cassini-Huygens, including Saturn's radio emissions, Some Pulsars, And finally, some generated from the Cosmic Microwave Background.

http://www.chess.com/groups/home/insane-lettuce-monkeys Hey guys,    Does anyone want to join my group?  We hold tournments with different bands so you dont play anyone way below you or way above you The link is above

One of the main reasons why I chose to study astrophysics! The concept of a black hole is fascinating but sadly our academics are illiterate in GR (they're all into fusion research or nuclear astrophysics) so we don't get to do much work on them, or any of the really exotic phenomena. We briefly touched on it in a high-energy observation course though which was cool. What got you guys interested in what lies beyond? :)

Does anyone know a poem to make remembering the planets easier? my very easy marvoullous jam sunday undergoes no persistence I couldnt think of one alright!