International Astronomical Union Commission 4 : Ephemerides Newsletter Nr. 8

January 21, 1999

Subject: Newsletter No. 8

                International Astronomical Union
                   Commission 4: Ephemerides
            Newsletter No. 8     January 21, 1999

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President                              Vice President

E Myles Standish Jr                    Jean Chapront
301-150                                Bureau des Longitudes
Jet Propulsion Laboratory              77, avenue Denfert Rochereau
Pasadena, CA 91109   USA               F-75014 Paris, FRANCE
Tel: 1 818 354 3959                    Tel: 33
Fax: 1 818 393 6388                    Fax: 
ems@smyles.jpl.nasa.gov                jean.chapront@bdl.fr
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8.0 Contents of this Newsletter

  8.1  Results of the Poll about the Minor Planet Center's Intention of 
                              Assigning a Minor Planet Number to Pluto.
                     
  8.2  Request for Input to IAU Tri-Annual Reports


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  8.1  Results of the Poll about the Minor Planet Center's Intention of 
                              Assigning a Minor Planet Number to Pluto.


Members were asked to give their opinions to the following 4 statements 
(strongly agree/somewhat agree/no preference/somewhat disagree/strongly 
disagree) :

 1) Assign a minor planet number to Pluto.
 2) Introduce a new Kuiper Belt Object catalog in which Pluto would be the 
    leading object.
 3) The question of assigning a minor planet number should be discussed 
    by the IAU prior to any action being taken.
 4) The question of assigning a minor planet number should be discussed 
    by the astronomical community at large prior to any action being taken.

For those that did respond, the counts are

         strongly   somewhat      no        somewhat      strongly
          agree      agree    preference    disagree      disagree


  1)        0          2           1            3            20
  2)        6          6           0            7             4
  3)       16          4           2            1             0
  4)       12          6           1            4             0

Thus, we strongly agree that a minor planet number should NOT be assigned
to Pluto and that the matter should be discussed by the IAU and by the
astronomical community.  We have divided opinions about creating a new
category of Kupier Belt Objects in which Pluto would be the first object.
Regrettably, the poll did not distinguish between creating the new
catagory and assigning Pluto to its membership.

Here are some of the comments that were included in the returns:




Myles Standish
President, IAU Commission 4

ems@smyles.jpl.nasa.gov  [128.149.23.23] 
JPL 301-150; Pasadena, CA  91109 
TEL: 818-354-3959; FAX: 818-393-6388 
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