is pluto a planet?

Question

The BBC programme suggested it isnt. and soon the powers that be will decide.

Answer 1

astronomers are trying to define the word planet, but it isn't easy. many favor the reclassification of the bodies in the solar system into three groups, the rocky terrestrials, the gas giants, and the ice dwarfs. there are hundreds of known ice dwarfs, including pluto, quaoar, sedna, 2003 EL61, and 2003 UB313 (the official name of xena). this is also called the kuiper belt, and pluto was the first kuiper belt object discovered. 2003 UB313 is about five percent bigger than pluto.

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

Answer 2

It was original determined to be a planet when it was discovered. However, since the recent discovery of Sedna, "planet 10", and another one with some silly NASA codename like UBX471 (not that but similar), scienctist have decied these last two are not planets, and Pluto is more similar in size, distance from sun, and stuff to these objects than any of the main planets.

The powers that be are going to have to decied whether Pluto and Sedna are both planets, or both something else.

Answer 3

Yes, as far as I know, Pluto is a planet. I usually teach others this acronym to remember the names of the planets and their location from the sun.

My Very Educated Mother Just Served Us Nine Pizzas !
Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto.

Answer 4

I'd say give Pluto the benefit of the doubt and keep it as a planet. However, as its turning out Pluto is looking no more remarkable than millions of other pieces of debris scattered out around its neighborhood; if it was discovered today it probably wouldn't be considered a planet.

Answer 5

There really isn't a scientific definition for "planet". So technically, I'm a planet (although I do not have a moon in my gravitational field yet).

It orbits the sun on its own trajectory -- planet-like
Its orbit is not in plane with the other "planets" -- not planet-like
Its orbit crosses Neptune's -- not planet-like
It has a moon -- planet-like
There are moons in the solar system bigger than Pluto -- not planet-like

Until there is a definition, it's hard to say.

Answer 6

That is up for debate.

Years ago it was classified as a planet.

Then they changed the definition of a planet, but never re-classified Pluto.

Answer 7

i think it is .........
A PLANET IS: any large, spherical, natural object which directly orbits a star, and does not generate heat by nuclear fusion. This definition is simple, is based on a physical definition of how large an object must be to be considered a planet, and without modification it will give the same results when applied to any planetary system. This definition distinguishes planets from asteroids and comets, which directly orbit our star, but are generally not large enough to be pulled into a spherical shape by their own gravity, and it distinguishes planets from stars, which frequently are in direct orbit around other stars, but generate heat internally by nuclear fusion. According to this definition, Pluto is clearly a planet.

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But some astronomers argue that Pluto is not a planet.

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i think i is a good topic tp argue about

Answer 8

To the casual observer, the announcement that scientists have identified a tenth planet orbiting the Sun is primarily of importance to few people other than science teachers and schoolchildren.

But, on closer examination, the revelation may have more far-reaching consequences for the way in which we think about space.

At around 3,000km across, 2003 UB313 - as it has been named - is the largest object found in our Solar System since the discovery of Neptune in 1846.


And it is thought to be larger than Pluto, whose status as the furthest planet from the Sun has been enshrined in accepted thought since it was identified in 1930.

But this could all change.

Technological advances have enabled astronomers to find more minor planets, stars, asteroids and comets.

And in the late 1960s scientists found that Pluto's size had been over-estimated.

It was first thought to be around as large as Earth, whereas accepted thought now suggests that the planet's mass is only around a fifth of the moon's.

"Today, the world knows that Pluto is not unique. There are other Plutos, just farther out in the Solar System where they are a little harder to find," says David Rabinowitz of Yale University, who was among the astronomers who discovered 2003 UB313 two years ago.

His point is echoed by Professor Mark Bailey, director of Armagh Observatory in Northern Ireland.

"Increasingly, objects are far away and there are objects which are of comparable size to Pluto, so if you think of Pluto as a planet then you should refer to those objects as planets," he says.

He estimates that there could be tens of thousands of objects beyond Neptune in the Solar System region known as the Kuiper belt, many of which may be larger than Pluto.

The discovery of 2003 UB313 comes soon after it was announced that 2003 EL61 had been found.

Artist's impression of Planet 2003 UB313 Image: Nasa
Planet 2003 UB313 is among several objects discovered in recent years

And a number of distant objects around the same size of Pluto have been found in recent years, including Quaoar (found in 2002) and Sedna (detected in 2004).

It is widely accepted that the struggle to provide an adequate definition of a planet is the crux of the problem.

"Originally a planet was a wandering star. Then it was something that moved across the sky. Then it was something that revolved around the Sun. The criterion about when it should be called a planet is something that is changing over time," says Prof Bailey.

"I'm sure we will continue to discover more and more objects of comparable size which will continue to challenge established thought about planets."

Dr Brian Marsden, director of the International Astronomy Union's minor planet centre, believes the simplest way to resolve the confusion is to reject Pluto's claim to being a planet on the grounds that "size does matter".

Instead he says people should accept that "we have eight planets and only an object bigger than Mars could be considered to be a planet in the future".

He argues that the disruption that would be caused to accepted thought would, ultimately, provide a more accurate understanding of space.

"School text books concentrate too much on the idea that Pluto is the ninth planet. Teaching should stress that there are hundreds of thousands of much smaller objects. Knowing a mnemonic and naming the planets is not science."

But not everyone believes science has the right, or influence to turn accepted thought on its head.

"Our culture has fully embraced the idea that Pluto is a planet and scientists have for the most part not yet realised that the term planet no longer belongs to them," says Michael Brown, one of the astronomers who discovered 2003 UB313.

His conclusion is simple: "From now on, everyone should ignore the distracting debates of the scientists. Planets in our solar system should be defined not by some attempt at forcing a scientific definition on a thousands-of-years-old cultural term, but by simply embracing culture. Pluto is a planet because culture says it is.

"It is understandably hard for scientists to let go of a word that they think they use scientifically, but they need to."

He considers 2003 UB313 to be a planet in a "cultural" and "historical" sense, adding: "I will not argue that it is a scientific planet because there is no good scientific definition which fits our solar system and our culture and I have decided to let culture win this one.

Answer 9

at first observations they say that pluto is only a planetoid not a real planet. but as times goes, people claimed that its a planet`

Answer 10

i got taught at school there is 9 planets and pluto was one of them.bloody education curriculums always changing haha