Did anyone here see "The Colbert Report" last night? He had astronomer Neil Tyson on (well, kinda) — Neil is the Big Cheese at the Rose Center for Earth and Space in New York City. Years ago, when they rebuilt the place (and it’s really cool now, BTW) they constructed a model of the solar system, and Neil got a lot of flak for leaving Pluto out of the model.
Well, with the news from the IAU this week, Colbert forced Neil to apologize for dissing Pluto. It was pretty funny, and BABloggee BigDumbChimp (gotta love that handle) sent me a note that the video is now on YouTube.
I’m pretty sure I could come up with a better "Oh, snap!" line for UB313 though.
August 18th, 2006 at 11:29 am
That was hilarious!!
A few days ago Colbert did the nmemonic, and blew up Pluto. Now he changes his mind.
I loved the way he cracked up Dr. Tyson. And props to him for being a good sport.
August 18th, 2006 at 11:34 am
Great clip!
August 18th, 2006 at 11:43 am
I was a bit sceptical of Colbert’s new show when it first started. I used to suspect that his fake bloviating for half-an-hour per night would wear a little thin after a while but, as this clip shows, for the most part he’s been able to pull it off. He’s definitely at his best during the interviews when he shows how quick witted he can be.
His religion-based objections to all-things sciency are painfully true.
August 18th, 2006 at 12:11 pm
Breaking news: alternate planet proposal removes Pluto and defeats draft IAU resolution in test vore: http://www.astro.uni-bonn.de/~dfischer/mirror/300.html . Planetary wars continue…
August 18th, 2006 at 12:26 pm
I got an insult for UB313. You’re so full of methane, they had to escort you to the Kupier belt!
August 18th, 2006 at 12:52 pm
Colbert’s not exactly a gracious winner, is he?
Besides, his call was wrong – he never mentioned Charon, Ceres or 2005UB313, did he?
August 18th, 2006 at 12:55 pm
D’oh! I meant 2003 UB313.
August 18th, 2006 at 1:04 pm
He did good leaving Pluto out of the model, PLUTO SHOULD NOT BE CALLED A PLANET ITS JUST A HUGE ICE BALL. >.0 Neither does Charon! It’s just a big snowball!! I’ve made snowballs bigger then that thing! PLUTO CAN’T BE A PLANET.
I enjoyed the video, it was interestingly sweet.
August 18th, 2006 at 1:49 pm
As spokesperson for Ceres I must say my client takes great exception to Mr. Colbert’s remarks. The “World Ceres” is a fascinating place to visit, untarnished by humanity.
August 18th, 2006 at 2:06 pm
Funniest astronomical clip I’ve seen! Well, amgonst the funniest, as I have to consider MST3K and Red Dwarf.
“Ceres, you’re just a pain in the asteroid!”
August 18th, 2006 at 2:52 pm
I saw this last night, and if your a frequent Colbert Report watcher, you can see that Mr. Tyson actually did a pretty good job relative to other Colbert interviewes.
Just wait, his next show will be about how we should name 2003UB313 “Colberton.”
As I said in my last post, I still think we should petition the IAU to name it “Plaitus.”
August 18th, 2006 at 6:18 pm
Darn it all! I want UB313 to be named Rupert in honor of the 10th planet in Douglas Adam’s “Mostly Harmless.” But nobody listens to me : (.
J. D.
August 18th, 2006 at 9:02 pm
I thought Charon was pronounced “Kayr-on”
August 18th, 2006 at 9:08 pm
Not quite as entertaining to me as Colbert’s take on marrying snakes, but still a good one!
August 19th, 2006 at 12:10 am
Evolving Squid, go to Bill Arnett’s pages (http://www.nineplanets.org) and look up Charon. He offers two pronunciations, and the reasons behind them.
August 19th, 2006 at 12:12 am
Fender, I would like to see your Charon-sized snowball. Do you have a photo you can post?
August 19th, 2006 at 3:09 am
You astronomers are hopeless. A little political capital falls in your lap about once a millennium, and you don’t even know it’s happened.
OK, here’s what you do. You go to the Discovery Institute, and you tell them that if they back off Intelligent Design, you’ll have Earth declared the only legitimate planet. This, by the way, will be a cinch. For the new definition of “planet” you just propose, “all spherical objects that have NASCAR.” Do it right after lunch when the Europeans will be too drunk to question the acronym.
You’re asking, “What makes you think I care about Intelligent Design?” I don’t. Before approaching the creationists, you make your deal with the biologists: You’ll get the Intelligent Design wackos off their back if they keep you flush with hookers, beer, pizza, M&M’s, plasma TV’s and DVDs. I’d start with about a hundred hours of Petticoat Junction, Judge Judy and Tucker Carlson, but that’s my taste. You’ll probably prefer something geeky like Dr. Who.
Don’t thank me. Just keep us all posted on the killer asteroids.
August 19th, 2006 at 3:27 am
Colbert rocks!
August 19th, 2006 at 12:17 pm
Actully Neil Degrasse Tyson was correct to remove Pluto based on the previous demotion of Ceres. If Ceres had always been considered planet worthy with the new objective standard used all along I suspect Dr. Tyson would have never demoted Pluto. Another issue is that the final vote won’t occur until next week, and it seems Pluto and its ilk will be called Plutons or Plutinos, this itself distinguishes them from being classical planets, once again Dr. Tyson is correct.
August 20th, 2006 at 6:21 am
You got it sooo wrong. Tyson didnt say he was wrong, in fact he was right. He was just saying they grouped Pluto in with their other similar objects in the kuiper belt. But yes, it was a hilarious interview!
Now, not only does the IAU’s new definition add a few more planets instantly, it will add hundreds, maybe a thousand planets when the tally’s done. He goes into this in some great detail and is also pretty hard-hitting on ID and other things on this weeks Point of Inquiry. http://pointofinquiry.org
August 21st, 2006 at 10:21 am
I’m still waiting for them to give Pluto back its real name: Yuggoth
August 24th, 2006 at 8:27 am
I wonder if Colbert is ready to eat crow?
We need a rematch!
August 25th, 2006 at 4:28 am
I’m still waiting for Colbert to declare the members of the IAU “dead to me” for demoting Pluto.
August 28th, 2006 at 6:30 am
I am eagerly awaiting the reaction of the astrological community!
August 28th, 2006 at 7:59 am
One of the funnier threads I have ever read. Let me see now – plutononian thread; underground humor?
August 28th, 2006 at 9:10 am
Kool!
Today’s APOD linked to this post!
August 28th, 2006 at 4:27 pm
Congradulations Dr. Tyson,
You where right after all; ” extremely small ….lopsided orbit…..Kupier belt object (ice ball)…etc..!
Keep on, keeping on….You are the right person in the right position making the right ultimate decision (scientific rather than good old 70 year memories).
August 29th, 2006 at 9:01 pm
International Astronomical Union is the new pneumonic:
My very enormous monster just stopped using nine
Tom Joyce
http://www.8pla.net
December 31st, 2007 at 4:36 pm
What are all of you aliens talking about??? what parts of your minds have been removed…what is a Pluto? do you even know… Mr. Neil was correct
February 10th, 2009 at 9:04 am
[...] gone unfilled. (What black hole has Sanjay Gupta gone into? Has Neil deGrasse Tyson demoted him too?) But the question remains important. Where you stand reveals where you sit. It’s one thing to have [...]