Subject: DPS Mailing #99-03, 28 January 1999

Greetings, DPS Members-
 
       +------------------CONTENTS:-----------------------------+
       |1) Pluto                                                |
       |2) FROM GIANT PLANETS TO COOL STARS, Flagstaff, June '99|
       +--------------------------------------------------------+

1---------1---------1---------1---------1---------1---------1---------1

PLUTO

Colleagues,

No doubt, you are aware of the recent media attention implying that Pluto has 
been "officially" downgraded from planetary status.  This was stimulated in 
large part by a suggestion by the Minor Planet Center to assign the minor 
planet number 10000 to Pluto in conjunction with the numbering of some 
Trans-Neptunian Objects.  The Small Bodies Names Committee (SBNC) of IAU 
Commission 20 has been discussing this issue for several months, as has the 
Executive Committee of IAU Division III (Planetary Systems Sciences).  It 
should be emphasized that, in spite of media perceptions, no action or decision 
has yet been taken.  The number 10000 will likely be reached for the numbered 
asteroids within a few weeks.  Mike A'Hearn, as President of IAU Division III, 
has established a web page with background information which also solicits 
input from the astronomical community:

http://www.ss.astro.umd.edu/IAU/div3/pluto.shtml

The DPS committee believes that this situation is harmful to our profession
and will become more so if not put quickly to rest.  The public is confused, 
acrimonious rifts are being created within our community and many of our 
colleagues are being diverted from productive work to counter what they 
perceive to be an alarming and unnecessary crisis.  We have therefore adopted 
the following brief position statement, which will be forwarded to the 
appropriate IAU committees:

"The Committee of the Division for Planetary Sciences of the American 
Astronomical Society is opposed to assigning a minor planet number to Pluto.  
This action would undoubtedly be viewed by the broader scientific community and 
the general public as a "reclassification" of Pluto from a major planet to a 
minor planet.  We feel that there is little scientific or historical 
justification for such an action."

We urge DPS members to visit the above web page and express your opinions.  
Michael A'Hearn (ma@astro.umd.edu) is President of IAU Div. III and Chair
of the Small Bodies Nomenclature Committee, and can relay messages to
appropriate others in the IAU.

Don Yeomans, DPS Chairman
and the other members of
the DPS Committee

[Postscript from another message from Don Yeomans: Many of us have been asked 
when the Planet Pluto will once again have the largest heliocentric distance
of any of the nine planets. JPL's Myles Standish notes that on 1999 Feb. 11 at 
10:09 ET, Pluto's distance will exceed that of Neptune's.  This result is based 
upon JPL's Planetary ephemeris DE405 and the time refers to Pluto and Neptune 
themselves rather than their respective barycenters (the latter time would be 
09:40).]

2---------2---------2---------2---------2---------2---------2---------2

                        FROM GIANT PLANETS TO COOL STARS
                              Flagstaff, Arizona
                               June 8 - 11, 1999

This workshop aims to bring together scientists from both the planetary
and astrophysical communities to better address the emerging interdisciplinary
field of brown dwarf and extrasolar giant planet studies.

It is clear that physical and chemical processes considered by
both planetary and stellar astronomers are important in the interiors and
atmospheres of extrasolar giant planets and brown dwarfs. Yet, to date
there has been relatively little interaction between the two communities.
The workshop will feature invited speakers from both communities, solicited
and contributed talks, and a poster session/reception that covers a broad
range of related topics (for example, detection and observations of extrasolar
planets and brown dwarfs, and theory and observations of processes
important to
atmospheric structure of planets, cool stars and/or brown dwarfs).
The combination of discussions and review talks will allow new people
to become aquainted with the issues in the field.

The conference web site will be updated regularly with information on
confirmed invited speakers, abstract deadlines, registration, and
accomodations.
See http://www.phy.nau.edu/~gpcs99/

Please share this announcement with interested colleagues.  Questions
about the workshop are welcome, you can reach us at gpcs99@bohr.phy.nau.edu.


Co-Chairs:          Mark Marley  &  Caitlin Griffith

Advisory Committee: France Allard, Tristan Guillot, Jonathan Lunine,
                    Didier Saumon, Jean Schneider

Sponsored by:         Northern Arizona University
                                 &
                National Aeronautics Space Administration

----------------------------------------------------------------------

                      Nick Schneider, on behalf of the DPS Committee
                      (submissions to Al Harris: awharris@lithos.jpl.nasa.gov)