How can a moon be a planet too?

Question

Charon (the largest moon of Pluto) is on the board to be classified as a planet, but how can this be? A planet must:

1) Orbit around the sun
2) Have a sufficient gravitational density to maintain a spherical shape

By definition, a moon orbits its planet, not the sun. Is Charon different?

Under the new proposed definition of a planet, 3 new bodies will be added to the list of "Planets" in our solar system.

1) Ceres (an asteroid between Mard and Jupiter)
2) Charon (Pluto's moon)
3) 2003 UB313 - "Xena" (a large kupiter belt object..larger than Pluto)

This will make the official count 12. But unlike the other 2, Charon orbits Pluto, not the sun.

Answer 1

Charon has been a part of the controversy over Pluto's status as a planet. Under the latest proposal, which will be decided on August 24, 2006, the International Astronomical Union may classify Charon as a pluton, officially making Charon a planet. Under this proposal, Charon would be considered a binary planet with Pluto since the two orbit each other around a center of mass that is outside either body. Those who have argued against Pluto as a planet consider the two as the first discovered trans-Neptunian objects.

in other words, Pluto and Charon orbit each other while they are both orbiting the sun. Makes sense now?

Answer 2

The problem is there is a flaw in your question. According to the scientific community, a proper definition of what a planet is has never been put forth. Where it is now being called into question whether Pluto should in fact be considered a planet, Charon could infact be defined as a planet. I'd say that it is more likely that Pluto's planetary status will be changed that Charon's though.

Answer 3

The center of the Earth's moon orbit is in the Earth. The center of the orbit of Pluto and Charon is a point in space.

The International Astronomical Union (IAU) may adopt Xena as the name for UB 313. Michael Brown of the California Institute of Technology who discovered the planet nicknamed it Xena after the warrior princess of TV fame. He chose Xena because it would be the 10th planet which is "X" in roman numerals. Gabrielle is the name for the moon of Xena

The 12 planets in our solar system listed in order of their proximity to the sun would be Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Ceres, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto, Charon, and Xena (UB313). Pluto's largest moon, Charon; and the asteroid Ceres would be categorized as planets. Pluto would be categorized as both a planet and a pluton. Both Pluto and Charon each are large enough (massive enough) to be spherical. Both bodies independently satisfy the definition of “planet”. The reason they are called a “double planet” is that their common centre of gravity is a point that is located in free space outside the surface of Pluto.

The center of gravity for the Moon's orbit is in the center of the Earth. The Moon truly orbits the Earth.

The new definition of a planet: any round object larger than 800 kilometers (nearly 500 miles) in diameter that orbits the sun and has a mass roughly one-12,000th that of Earth. Moons and asteroids will make the grade if they meet those basic tests.

The growing category of "plutons" - Pluto-like objects that reside in the Kuiper Belt, a mysterious, disc-shaped zone beyond Neptune containing thousands of comets and planetary objects.
Plutons are distinguished from classical planets in that they reside in orbits around the Sun that take longer than 200 years to complete (i.e. they orbit beyond Neptune). Plutons typically have orbits that are highly tilted with respect to the classical planets (technically referred to as a large orbital inclination). Plutons also typically have orbits that are far from being perfectly circular (technically referred to as having a large orbital eccentricity). All of these distinguishing characteristics for plutons are scientifically interesting in that they suggest a different origin from the classical planets.

Answer 4

Moon is the in uncomplicated words organic satellite tv for pc of the Earth, It won't be able to be labeled as such or possibly a dwarf planet because it did not attain the category of a planet. The planets are continually close to the imaginary each and each year course of the solar on the celestial sphere (the ecliptic). The moon has numerous remarkable floor constructive elements. the first is its craters. those craters factor out that the moon does no longer have an ecosystem which a planet does. The moon orbits the Earth each 27.322 days. because the Earth is revolving around the solar, inspite of the undeniable fact that, it takes the moon 29.fifty 3 days to flow by skill of its stages as considered from Earth.

Answer 5

Charon and Pluto aren't planets.

Unlike what people might thing now, in the future we will need to name 'planets' probably another 5-10 planet-sized bodies in the outer solar system orbits.

Answer 6

no, the moon doesnt count under the new rules, because it orbits around the Earth, not the Sun.

Charon does count, because it and Pluto are so close in size that they rotate around each other at a point above Pluto's surface, making it more of a dual planet system. The point that the moon and the Earth rotate around is under the Earth's surface.

Answer 7

Moons do both of those... And many were formed at the creation of the solar system by the same particles that formed the sun, just like Jupiter and the earth.

It's very hard to say what is a planet and what is not.

(just to demonstrate the point, ask yourself "What is a chair?" If you say something you sit on, does that make the earth a giant chair if you sit on the ground?)

Answer 8

No, a moon cannot be a planet. I believe astronomers still have a lot of investigating to do....

Answer 9

No moon cannot be a planet!

Answer 10

a planet is supposed to have [even just very thin] an atmosphere.