Pluto not a planet!?!?!
Posted on: August 28, 2006 - 3:07pm
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Pluto not a planet!?!?!
I was on vacation on a cruise, and the news was on and did I hear right? Is Pluto no longer considered a planet?? That is absolutely rediculous, not that it really matters or anything, but why do scientist and all the astronomer people go through all the trouble of proclaiming whether or not something is or is not a planet? It does not change it at all, its just putting a title on it. But does anyone know why they decided to take away its planetmanship ?(made up word right there)
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Pluto's "planetmanship" has always been in question, basically it doesn't look or behave like any of the other planets in its vicinity. There might be literally millions of other Pluto like objects in the outer solarsystem and for the sake of simplicity astronomers would rather just call the "remaining" eight planets "planets" and all the others that are farther out Plutons of dwarf planets.
Pluto is still considered a planet, just not a full fledged planet.
It all has to do with fine tuning the classification of what scientists consider orbiting bodies around the sun. Pluto is now classified as a dwarf planet.
Clyde Tombaugh discovered Pluto in 1930. Unfortunately the resolution of 30s technology telescopes could not distinguish the shape and size of Pluto. We now know that it's not spherical as we usually consider a planet. It's actually elliptical. To call Pluto a full fledged planet would contradict other orbiting bodies such as asteroids. If Pluto is a planet, then why not the dozens of large asteroids? There are other bodies out there that are larger than Pluto and further out in the solar system. Should we consider them as planets as well? These problems brought into question the definition of a planet.
The new classification for a planet must meet the following criteria:
I agree that it doesn't change anything. Nor should science have much concern for tradition IMO. Names have no importance other than for classifying things. And as science gains more knowledge about the universe, our classifications have to change with the new data or else we get stuck in unworkable terminology.
For more information on this see:
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2006/08/060824-pluto-planet.html
I don't care either way. Planet or no planet, it's still just a big frozen rock.
yes, but it was my FAVORITE big frozen rock.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pluto
Pluto is now considered a dwarf planet. Remember, a rose by any other name is still a rose.
Pluto is a dwarf planet in the solar system, having been formerly considered the ninth full planet from the Sun until it was reclassified on August 24, 2006 according to the International Astronomical Union's (IAU) redefinition of planet.[1] Pluto could be classified, again, among dwarf planets as the prototype of a yet-to-be-named family of trans-Neptunian objects.
Pluto has an eccentric orbit that is highly inclined with respect to the planets and takes it closer to the Sun than Neptune during a portion of its orbit. It is smaller than several natural satellites or moons in our solar system (see the list of solar system objects by radius). Pluto and its largest satellite Charon have often been considered a binary system because they are more nearly equal in size than any of the planet/moon combinations in the solar system, and because the barycentre of their orbits does not lie within either body. Two smaller moons named Nix and Hydra were discovered in 2005.
Since the discovery of Pluto in 1930, controversy has surrounded its status as a planet[4]. The discovery of other trans-Neptunian objects (notably 2003 UB313, nicknamed "Xena", which is even larger than Pluto) focused debate on Pluto and the definition of a planet.
Pluto's astronomical symbol is a P-L monogram, . This represents both the first two letters of the name Pluto and the initials of Percival Lowell, who had searched extensively for a ninth planet and who had founded Lowell Observatory, the observatory from which Clyde Tombaugh eventually discovered Pluto. Another symbol sometimes used for Pluto is an astrological symbol and not an astronomical one. Pluto's astrological symbol resembles that of Neptune ( ), but has a circle in place of the middle prong of the trident ( ).
Religion is regarded by the common people as true, by the wise as false, and by the rulers as useful. - Seneca