Who cares if you call it a planet, it's amazing

[Hope]

The latest pics are pretty dramatic

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-34221730
http://1.usa.gov/1UKX43R  (NASA's official site)

[Red Giant]

Why are all planets made of rock?

[Rhiannon]

That sounds like humbug to me.


(Sorry)

[Red Giant]

It depend on whether you view rock as dead in the same way that, say, concrete is.

That said, those pictures remind me of my dog's ball after a particularly vigorous play session.

??

I don't understand what you don't understand.

Not sure whether your reference was to your dog's anatomy...?

No. He left his at the vet's a couple of years' ago.

Thank God for that! I thought we'd had a disturbing insight into life behind closed doors there!

Now look what you've done.  You've made me wonder what a dog would do if it got hold of its own balls after detachment.  I didn't need to have this problem.

[torridon]

not to do with Pluto, of course, but of enormous scientific interest, persistent and abundant molecular oxygen has been found on comet 67P.  Nobody would have predicted this when Rosetta was launched; this is going to force us to re-examine many of our assumptions.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/rosetta-mission-comet-67p-is-surrounded-by-huge-amounts-of-oxygen-scientists-say-potentially-a6713341.html

[Outrider]

Why are all planets made of rock?

They aren't. Jupiter and Saturn are gas giants, and whilst no-one's 100% sure what's at the centre, it seems likely that it's super-condensed liquid still.

Even then it depends on what you mean by 'rock' - The Earth has a solid crust, but the inner is molten, and whilst it's molten rock for most of the way, there's reasonably strong evidence that the core is metallic (iron in the centre, and then an outer layer of iron-nickel).

O.

[Samuel]

super-condensed liquid

That has blown my mind a little bit. I have to go and find out what that is