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Pluto no longer a planet?

 
 
Reply Thu 26 Feb, 2009 04:02 am
I'm wondering why scientests decided that Pluto should no longer be a planet. Growing up it was always considered a planet, and now it's just some sort of celestial being. What gives? What was the argument against it's planetary status, and are any of the other planets in our solar system at risk of being declassified? Will we get a new planet?
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Type: Question • Score: 3 • Views: 2,218 • Replies: 5
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Setanta
 
  1  
Reply Thu 26 Feb, 2009 04:59 am
@magikspork,
I am mystified about why you would consider this important. Calling any discrete body within the solar system a planet is an arbitrary linguistic act as it is, so who cares which ones get named planets? Referring to them as planets does not change them, and "declassifying" them does not change them--these are only labels we put on them, and are largely meaningless, apart from the value in organizing one's thought.
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Letty
 
  1  
Reply Thu 26 Feb, 2009 05:28 am
@magikspork,
magikspork, Welcome to A2k.

Setanta, I know you will love this.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wGySROBfcTI&feature=related
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farmerman
 
  1  
Reply Thu 26 Feb, 2009 06:42 am
It has to do with intragalactic nomenclature and politics.
Quote:
The issue of a clear definition for "planet" came to a head in 2005 with the discovery of the trans-Neptunian object Eris, a body larger than the smallest then-accepted planet, Pluto. In its 2006 response, the International Astronomical Union (IAU), recognised by astronomers as the world body responsible for resolving issues of nomenclature, released its decision on the matter. This definition, which applies only to the Solar System, states that a planet is a body that orbits the Sun, is large enough for its own gravity to make it round, and has "cleared its neighbourhood" of smaller objects. Under this new definition, Pluto, along with the other trans-Neptunian objects, does not qualify as a planet. The IAU's decision has not resolved all controversies, and while many scientists have accepted the definition, some in the astronomical community have rejected it outright



I wanna see some Plutonian Smack-Down on this. We just cant let Pluto go down the tubes as a planet just because some douche bags want to have their systematics rule the day.

UP, is with which, this shall not be PUT.
rosborne979
 
  1  
Reply Thu 26 Feb, 2009 07:31 am
@farmerman,
farmerman wrote:
UP, is with which, this shall not be PUT.

Thanks Yoda Smile
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Setanta
 
  0  
Reply Thu 26 Feb, 2009 12:21 pm
I suspect some nasty Venusian bitch is behind it all . . .
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