Why is pluto a dwarf?
Friends, I mean pluto has everything that other planets have.
it revolves round the sun in whatever orbit,it has 5 moons(mercury,mars.. dont have!),it might be smaller than moon,it might cross neptune's orbit.
what is the problem with IAU
do they think that just becoz media,textbooks are following them they are gonna decide whatever they want.
What if a solar system with majority of dwarf planets with similar features is found,will they call it dwarf solar system.
I think the definition of planets,dwarfs itself is confusing and misleading.
WHAT DO YOU SAY ABOUT IT WITH PARTICULAR REFERENCE TO PLUTO BEING AN OBJECT WITH 5 MOONS?
Comments
It's a matter of simplicity...Fred above tells it right - there were other objects found further out than Pluto that were larger... the Kuiper belt could contain *thousands* of Pluto-type worlds. If we left Pluto as a planet, then we'd need to come up with possibly *thousands* of names (and a very long mnemonic better than "My Very Excellent Mother Just Served Us Nine Pizzas") - and do we really want to consider that...?
The question was raised over this concern. There were 2 objects found in the Kuiper Belt that were as large or larger than Pluto. So the question became "should we regard these as planets or should Pluto be demoted to dwarf status?". When people looked at the definition of a planet.. there really wasn't one. It was this loose notion of something that went around the sun. So the question ultimately came down to "do we name these 2 Kuiper Belt objects planets? And if we do why don't we consider 2 or 3 of the large asteroids between Mars and Jupiter planets too?" So Pluto was demoted for a good reason.
"WHAT DO YOU SAY ABOUT IT WITH PARTICULAR REFERENCE TO PLUTO BEING AN OBJECT WITH 5 MOONS?"
I'd say that isn't the accepted criteria for being a planet.
"I think that having a moon, along with orbiting a sun,"
Uh… what about Mercury and Venus? Are they now not planets bc they have no moons?
It has nothing to do with size or if it has moons.
The media and textbooks had nothing to do with the decision by the IAU.
A planet must:
1. Be spherical due to its own gravity
2. Orbit the sun, not another planet
3. Have cleared its orbital path of debris
Pluto fails point #3 - it orbits within the Kuiper Belt which is FULL of debris. Pluto should never have been labelled a planet since it is really one of thousands of small objects beyond Neptune.
Having moons means nothing - there are asteroids with moons as well and you're not complaining about them.
Well, you and yeh both seem to feel that ''having a moon'' is the qualification for being a planet.
Its not. And it should not be.
There are at least 6 asteroids in the asteroid belt known to have one or more ''moons''.
A couple of these aren't much larger than Mt Everest.
Merely having a moon no more makes an object a planet than having a backup singer makes you a legendary rock-star.
You want to be considered a rock-star? Meet some basic criteria (Have more than one national hit, play more than one national tour, keep at least one band playing for at least one decade...)
You want a chunk of rock to be a planet? It needs to fit some basic criteria. ( Be in orbit around the Sun (not a satellite of another body), Be large enough to pull itself into a mostly spherical shape, and clear the 'neighborhood' of its orbit.)
**You** don't like that definition? Then scream, cry and carry on. See how many people listen to you.
Or start a petition. (Its not going to do any good... but so many pud'n headed do-gooders seem to start petitions at the drop of a hat-size...)
Or *become* an astronomer - with enough ''chops'' to be part of the IAU and lead a charge to change the definition.
Of course, while you are doing that, be sure to demand that all those schoolkids start remembering all the other objects that have been called a ''planet'' in the past - and have been so unfairly ''demoted''
Like:
Ceres, Pallas, Vesta & Juno,
Eris, Makemake, Hamuea, Sedna, Quoar, Orcus
And of course, all the asteroids that have moons must be planets...
Wow... my memory was *waaaaayyy* off - there are closer to 200 asteroids with one or more satellites or 'sub-moons'
I was going to list a few, but.... you can look at the source for yourself.
Feel free to argue that every single one of these is a **planet**
I will just shake my head and laugh at the crazy...
Please let it rest. It was stupid to demote Pluto. It will be stupid if we re-instate Pluto. No planet has "everything" other planet's have. They had some good reasons: we found several more dwarf planets about the size and mass of Pluto, and expected to find about 100 dwarf planets about half the diameter of Pluto. We have not found them yet, but the probe to Pluto is still enroute.
"Our Solar System has 117 planets, no wait, our Solar system has 118 planets, because we just found another one and it is about 84% the diameter of Pluto" Is that what you really want?
Bad house keeping. It hasn't cleared it's orbit, there's stuff in it's orbit as large as it is, a planet is when all this stuff collided with each other to form a planet and Pluto isn't finished doing that yet.
This was an arbitrary decision, 'voted' on in a sneaky, midnight meeting.
Carol has it correctly:
"Science is usually NOT done by a majority of 4% (with NO planetary scientists left AT the conference when the vote was taken) VOTING to pass a resolution!!!!!"
And: "Closest approach to Pluto is in July 2015. THAT is when this simmering professional scientific debate is going to heat yup. IMO, the IAU painted itself into corner and discredited itself professionally."
Yep!! AND - this has undertones of OTHER than science behind it - my opinion!!!
The only CORRECT way to vote this would be with a majority of planetary scientists voting!
Can hardly wait till '15!!!
I agree that it shouldn't be a dwarf, the only thing is some planets moons (IE Saturn's titan) are actually larger than Pluto itself.
First of all, Pluto is a comet. If you put it in Earth's orbit, it would have a tail of material falling of it as the sun's heat melts it
As I said previously, I think that having a moon, along with orbiting a sun, is enough to qualify. Unfortunately, Pluto is tiny, and that is the deal breaker. *frowny face*
I too miss Pluto- lets start a petition to bring it back!