Pluto Loses its Planet Status
Astronomers at International Astronomical Union have voted against Pluto there by demoting Pluto’s planet status. Many people are not happy about this as pluto was demoted based on a controversial definition of planets. Well now there are only eight planets and 2003 UB313 nick named Xena is staking its claim as a planet.
If you liked this article, click here to buy me a Beer! :)The decision establishes three main categories of objects in our solar system.
- Planets: The eight worlds from Mercury to Neptune.
- Dwarf Planets: Pluto and any other round object that “has not cleared the neighborhood around its orbit, and is not a satellite.”
- Small Solar System Bodies: All other objects orbiting the Sun.
Pluto and its moon Charon, which would both have been planets under the initial definition proposed Aug. 16, now get demoted because they are part of a sea of other objects that occupy the same region of space. Earth and the other eight large planets have, on the other hand, cleared broad swaths of space of any other large objects.
“Pluto is a dwarf planet by the … definition and is recognized as the prototype of a new category of trans-Neptunian objects,” states the approved resolution. Dwarf planets are not planets under the definition, however, “There will be hundreds of dwarf planets,” Brown predicted. He has already found dozens that fit the category.
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I have to say that I’m surprised at this outcry against demoting Pluto to the status of a “dwarf planet”. I mean, how is that possibly going to affect the average person’s life in any way?? Although this story is interesting to me, I can’t say that I actually *care* one way or the other.
Welcome to my blog RisingsunofNihon. The decision taken at IAU is not fair becasue only 5% of world’s astronomer decided the fate of pluto using the controvrsial definition of planets. Well the average person’s life is not going to be affected but if you have children then you may have to teach them from today that pluto is not a planet. Because many of them would already have learnt in school that pluto is a planet.
RisingSunofNihon:
“…how is that possibly going to affect the average person’s life in any way…”
If you ask how it is going to help scientifically, well I accept you have a point. But how its gonna help your life is senseless. You can ask how study on stars, galaxies, universe, math, physics, chemistry etc going to help our life, for that matter.
Shivaranjan:
The first draft does not fully accept pluto as planet. However it suggests, the planets which orbits a star with high eccentricity, like pluto, can be called plutons. The confusion lies on the definition of plutons by considering baricenter. Now astronomers have voted for the definition based on predominance of gravity, which helps the objects to keep their neighbourhood clean ;).
So as the dog pluto will los its presence in dog soicety..
But we will miss surely Pluto..will be our children would have 8 planets.
Read musings on pluto by angry astronomer
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from scienceblogs
( Hope your spam killer will let me through
I think my spam killer allowed you.
Seriously, I even wrote a line about it on my blog, its a large rock, so it’s one less word to study in school, big deal!
TechZ:
…I even wrote a line about it on my blog…
It would be easier if you can provide a link to the blog which you are talking about