Pissed off about Pluto

[Athelwulf]

According to scientists definitions it's a dwarf planet. It's fine if they need to update their definitions, but we don't have to follow them.

That is kinda infantile. Not to mention it might lead to ridicule if someone sees that you don't understand what a planet is.

Every object in the Kuiper belt is a planet.

Can you give any evidence for this?

Well as pointed out by many scientists, the definition of planet is no more or less coherent now than it was before.

Historically, there had been no formal scientific definition of "planet" and without one, the Solar System had been considered to have various planets over the years. This changed when a resolution covering planets within our solar system was formally adopted by the IAU in 2006, limiting the number to eight.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planet

The "worldwide definition" (there is no such thing) doesn't matter.

The International Astronomical Union defines "planet" as a celestial body that, within the Solar System,
(a) is in orbit around the Sun;
(b) has sufficient mass for its self-gravity to overcome rigid body forces so that it assumes a hydrostatic equilibrium (nearly round) shape; and
(c) has cleared the neighbourhood around its orbit;

or within another system,
(i) is in orbit around a star or stellar remnants;
(ii) has a mass below the limiting mass for thermonuclear fusion of deuterium; and
(iii) is above the minimum mass/size requirement for planetary status in the Solar System.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planet

My definition of a planet is: an object that goes around another object.

The definition of a star is: an object that other objects go around.

Stars go around the center of the galaxy, thus they are also small planets at the same time, and planets are small stars because moons go around them.

Oh boy. That is a highly unscientific definition. An amusing one, but unscientific nonetheless.

Even a human can be a star (like Michael Jackson)

Oh, you made a funny.

D H:

Pray tell me how it makes sense to construe Earth and Jupiter as planets, despite the fact that the Earth is primarily rocky and Jupiter is exclusively or almost-exclusively gaseous (and basically a "failed star")? Yet Pluto, which shares with Earth a primacy of rock (and also a great deal of ice) is classified as a "dwarf planet"?

What alternative do you suggest?

Moreover, what we call objects in space has no bearing on what they are. The definition of astronomical bodies are virtually moot to what they are. Calling Pluto a planet or not a planet ultimately is meaningless, but the fact that it is downgraded, discarded, and arbitrarily changed is what annoys the piss out of me.

Well when we come up with a definition for what something is, and we agree on it, then anything that meets that definition meets the definition, and anything that doesn't doesn't.

I see what you're trying to say: How we define anything makes no difference in the end. Celestial bodies don't change when we redefine what they are. Life moves on. But it just seems like you're using this to argue that Pluto is still a planet, thus undermining your whole point. If something doesn't meet the definition of "planet", it's not a planet. That's just all there is to it. For all scientific intents and purposes, even if it ultimately doesn't matter, if Pluto doesn't meet the definition of "planet", it's not a planet.

Also, the official definition isn't at all arbitrary. The fact that we named things (such as Pluto) planets almost literally on a whim until the definition was settled upon — that is a textbook example of arbitrary.

 

[S.A.M.]

Oh for heaven's sakes! Its just a rock by any other name.

Any of you consider writing for the Onion?

NASA Launches Probe To Inform Pluto Of Demotion

December 18, 2006 | Issue 42•51

In August, the International Astronomical Union downgraded Pluto to a dwarf planet. The panel of experts met to officially redefine the characteristics of a planet. To deliver the news to the distant orb about its newly lowered status, scientists at NASA's Kennedy Space Center launched a special messenger probe in September.

BEARER OF BAD NEWS
The Consoler probe braces to break the news to Pluto.

"It's tough, but we thought giving it to Pluto straight was the right thing to do," NASA Chief Engineer James Wood said. "After all, it put in 76 years as our ninth planet—it just didn't seem fair to break the news with an impersonal radio transmission beamed from Earth."

 

[URI]

Just get over it.

Pluto is a moon of Neptune. It's about time the delusion that it was a planet has evaporated.

 

[Nickelodeon]

BEARER OF BAD NEWS
The Consoler probe braces to break the news to Pluto.

"It's tough, but we thought giving it to Pluto straight was the right thing to do," NASA Chief Engineer James Wood said. "After all, it put in 76 years as our ninth planet—it just didn't seem fair to break the news with an impersonal radio transmission beamed from Earth."

Well James would. Its terribly important. De-classifying Pluto as a planet could turn it suicdal, leading to a destabilisation of its' orbit as it hurls itself toward the inner solar system into the Sun.

 

[Prince_James]

Two months later, and I am still pissed.

Screw the IAU!

But seriously: Nice thread necromancy, dumbie.

 

[Athelwulf]

But seriously: Nice thread necromancy, dumbie.

It's what I do.

 

[John Connellan]

Pluto is a moon of Neptune. It's about time the delusion that it was a planet has evaporated.

Does it orbit Neptune?!:bugeye:

 

[orcot]

it's still pluto
pluton
ploudon
Plutó
Plwto
Πλούτωνας
Plutono
Plutón
Pluuto
冥王星

Why bother with namings

 

[URI]

>> Does it orbit Neptune?

Yes, .... its orbit is massively perturbed by the "so called" gas giants.

 

[Syzygys]

Darkness has risen its ugly head...

Just get over it.
Pluto is a moon of Neptune.

No, it isn't. It orbits the Sun, not the Neptune.

Two months later, and I am still pissed.

Because you are an imbecile. Pluto is just an icy rock slightly bigger than my fist...

 

[invert_nexus]

But seriously: Nice thread necromancy, dumbie.

At least you stopped with the large font, bold thing. That was pretty dumb.

Plus, there's nothing wrong with thread necromancy. Within reason.

 

[URI]

>> It orbits the Sun, not the Neptune.

LOL
so does neptune, so does the Moon so does Earth !

sorry for Pluto to be a planet it should be a billion kms further away (estimate, but I could calculate the exact position) from the Sun, AND it should not cross any other planet's orbit.
Simple ?

 

[Syzygys]

Why people are so stupid?

>> It orbits the Sun, not the Neptune.

LOL
so does neptune, so does the Moon so does Earth !

So the Moon is a planet?

It is their primary orbits that determine their status...

 

[draqon]

Why people are so stupid?



So the Moon is a planet?

It is their primary orbits that determine their status...

because such is the life.

 

[John Connellan]

Yes, .... its orbit is massively perturbed by the "so called" gas giants.

What orbit? The orbit around Neptune or the sun?! :bugeye:

 

[draqon]

What orbit? The orbit around Neptune or the sun?!

Things to remember about Pluto

It has an orbital inclination orbit to the solar system plane

Also the planet has high orbital eccentricity...

meaning there are times when it is closer to Sun than to Neptune

And finally the animation of Pluto orbit

 

[draqon]

this piece of rock called Pluto is clearly not a planet

 

[Killjoy]

`
The pocket-protector-wearing sons of bitches are just picking on the poor little thing 'cos it won't conform and stick with the ecliptic like the rest of the #@$%&* agglomerations of gas and dust in this #@$%&* "system" !

Damn them and damn their science !!!!

 

[John Connellan]

Things to remember about Pluto.....

Try telling URI that pluto cannot be a moon of Neptune then!

 

[draqon]

Try telling URI that pluto cannot be a moon of Neptune then!

Pluto could have been at one time in orbit around Neptune...but surely not now. I mean that was long time ago...if it ever was...cause Pluto got Charon round it.