Ok who thinks this is stupid?

Question

I just learned that the fight to keep Pluto a "planet" is over, and that Pluto stays a "Planet" good news right? Wrong, they also called an overweight asteroid, Charon, pluto's moon, and a large rock past pluto "planets" too...That's stupid, No way is a "moon" now a "planet", same with an "asteroid" and " a large floating rock", what were they thinking, I mean of course Pluto is a planet but none of the others are...what do you think?

Yes but Charon rotates around Pluto and is nearly half it's size, clearly it is a moon, and if they are going to allow an "asteroid" to be considered a "planet" why not just say any piece of space debris is a "planet" and I'm not sure about that other rock, how big it is but if they add it because it is close to the size of Pluto, then it is probably too small...I think the size of Pluto should be the minimum size for classfying planets...

no actually Pluto does not have an atmosphere, charon does not have an atmosphere, and asteroids do not have atmospheres, however, if an object revolving around the sun or any other star has an atmosphere, it must be large enough to be a planet, if an object that rotates around a planet has an atmosphere, or not but is larger than an asteroid say, it would be a moon...

The thing is they were all discovered, just not determined to be "Planets" or whatever... But there are still more planets that have yet to be discovered, perhaps with life on them...

Yes but an asteroid is an asteroid unless it is large enough to have an atmosphere, and as for Pluto and Charon, Charon does revolve around Pluto otherwise Both would've originally been considered Binary Planets....similar to the binary solar systems with two stars...And there was a large object discovered recently outside the orbit of Pluto that is about 10 times the size of Jupiter but they haven't decided whether it was a planet yet or not ( at least I haven't heard if they did or not...) and It should be considered a planet....So keep Pluto a planet, Charon, Ceres and that other rock should not be planets, Charon the moon, and Ceres the Asteroid...

Answer 1

Planet- "A nonluminous celestial body larger than an asteroid or comet, illuminated by light from a star, such as the sun, around which it revolves."

You could be right about Charon.
But I think Pluto fits this description.

Answer 2

I never heard of the fight ..but of course i dont reallt get and how could Pluto's moon Charon be a Planet.Maybe its because Pluto is also very small also including Charon.But maybe there is a high chance that maybe Charon the moon is a planet now and Pluto the planet now the moon could be the opposites.Even if Charon is a LITTLE bit smaller than Pluto maybe not maybe yes...Alsomaybe they are not planets at all...maybe they are both a big rock thats a circle just orbiting the Sun...Nobody knows....

Answer 3

When Pluto was first discovered, back in the 1920's, there was a rush to call it the 9th planet. However, had Pluto been discovered today, it would be the focus of this debate. My point is, we should have 8 "traditional" planets with various other "plutons" or planet like bodies similar to Pluto that don't quite meet the traditional definition of a planet. By including the 3 additional bodies as planets, we are going to continually be adding planets to our own solar system. In 10 years instead of 9 planets or 12 planets, we could have over 20. I think it makes more sense to downgrade Pluto to a non-planet and just add these other objects as plutons, which is a real word and not something I just made up.

Answer 4

the problem is that the definition of "asteroid" and "planet" are too vague to make a clear distinction. Yes, pluto does revolve around the sun, but we have found atleast twenty other celestial objects beyond pluto that also revolve around the sun. So, how can we say that one of them (pluto) is a planet, and the rest of them arnt? What i personally believe is that pluto, and all the other objects we have found in space were either asteroids or moons that got pulled out of whatever path or orbit they were in by the sun and are now revolving around it. notice that all the planets beyond the asteroid belt, with the exception of pluto are all gas giants, and all the ones before the asteroid belt are all rocky planets. So i say just out of habit keep pluto a planet, but no other celestial object we find revolving around the sun should be classified as a planet unless it is a gas giant like all the other ones.

Answer 5

I too have heard about this fight. When Pluto was newly discovered, it was thought to be a moon of Neptune. But when Charon was discovered, Pluto was finally given the status of a planet which gave rise to a new topic regarding the consideration of Charon to be a planet or simply a moon of Pluto.Ithink that if Charon and the two new planets have the features of a "planet", then certainly, they too must be considered as planets.

Answer 6

Well till now we only knew about the nine planets.
Planets are large bodies revolving around a star.
Pluto was criticised for being called a planet decades ago, but today we just accept it. Similarly, Charon & UB314 "Xena", will gradually assimilate into our books and minds.
And it is upto us as to how do we define an object whether an asteroid or planet.
What if some astronomer who had discovered asteroids named them planets ?

Answer 7

Actually the overweight asteroid you are thinking about is Ceres (which you haven't mentioned). Perhaps, if you research the facts fully it will give you enough time to ponder these things and less time to waste getting all flustered about nothing.

To "cow_yogurt_cheese" Pluto and Charon both orbit around a common center of gravity (barycenter) with its location somewhat closer to Pluto than Charon.

Answer 8

you never know. they might be planets in our solar system not yet discovered. well. you see. people may have believed in things. for example, people once believed that the sun revolved around earth, and since that great astrologist proved him wrong, now there may be another to prove HIM wrong.

But you see, people may think that charon is a moon because it was not yet found anything like it before, and the fact that it only appeared now is that it the suns gravity has not pulled it in yet, therefore i can conclude that it is a passing asteroid from outer space gotten caught in the sun's gravitational force.

Answer 9

The Middle East is going nuts (..as usual), at least a gazillion muslims want to destroy the U.S., gas prices are through the stratosphere, hundreds of thousands of little kids die from malnutrition and disease every day, global warming threatens civilization, there's a hole in the ozone layer, and I've got a toothache. Somehow whether some blob whizzing around in space is called a planet or not just doesn't seem all that important.

Answer 10

Frankly... this debate about what is a planet or not is getting a little out of hand. There are more things that need to be resolved here on THIS floating blob of space debris we call home before we worry about what to call another floating blob of space debris we can barely see.

If the scientists/researchers/panalists/whatever decide to call the floating particle of dust in orbit around the gas giant Jupiter, then so be it. Why worry? So it means we have another bunch of names to remember... that's it... who cares!

STFUA!!!