If Pluto is not a planet, then what is it?

Question

And don't say it is Mickey Mouse's dog.

For those of you who say it is about to be decided, it has already been decided. Pluto is not a planet, and our solar system now has 8 planets.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/fc/science/astronomy_and_space

Answer 1

I get the feeling that the average person on the street isn't going to pay much heed to this in the end. As long as the new class still has the word "planet" in it, people are most likely going to keep calling Pluto a planet, disregarding the "minor" class modifier entirely. It'll be a good, long while before enough kids can be taught to use a different term in school for the general public to really accept the new standards as the norm.

Answer 2

Pluto is different then other planets in quite a few ways. First Pluto is on in inclination to the planetary plane. That is high compared to the “real” planets. The other 8 planets lie on roughly a plane as you compare their orbits around the sun. Pluto is inclined on this plane by about 15 degrees. Pluto probably would not have been found until now, or even a latter date but it just so happened to be crossing the planetary plane when it was discovered. Had it been in the position it is now fairly far off the eliptic (the path the planetray plane makes through the sky) it would have went unnoticed till survays of the sky such as those being done today. Pluto also have a very eccentric orbit, it is such an ellipse that it is closer to the sun for a short period of it orbit (this is many years) then Neptune it this is the reason why it’s a “trans-Neptunian “ object and not just a Kuiper belt object. Also Pluto is very small, when compared to all other planets then Mercury. Had Pluto been found to be a planet on size alone the argument might have been made that out own moon “Luna” is also a planet as the moon orbit’s the sun and not the earth, we only put a small scallop in it’s orbit so tha at some points it’s close the to the sun then the Earth and at other points it farther. Because of Plutos Size, orbit outside the planetary plane, and eccentric orbit Pluto has always been an “odd ball” planet. If Pluto had been found to be a planet along with all the other several hundred predicted objects yet to be found similar to Pluto, we would probably have to make a sub group of planets that describe the first 8 as they do have additional charticersiats that make the similar that other Kuiper belt and Trans-Neptunian objects don’t have.

Answer 3

Pluto is essentially a comet; though more like a dual-body comet from the Kuiper Belt (where there are probably hundreds of other bodies that are AT least its size...), when looked at in conjunction with it's "moon" Charon. There are also a couple other rocks or ice balls or dust covered ice balls that "orbit" in conjunction with Pluto and Charon.

The simple fact of the matter for those of you "scientists" who think that "we should just leave it alone cause we already called it a planet and what's the big deal?" is that if Pluto/Charon is a "planet", then there are hundreds of other "planets" lurking out there that haven't been discovered (because they're so small that it's HARD to discover them) which makes our solar system even more incomplete.

The fact that Pluto is "there" and we found it is GREAT, but it's really no more significant a body than many other comets, asteroids, and meteors; so let's get it right...

I think, definitely, the most important part of the new definition is that a planet's orbit is eccentric only to a marginal degree, and that it definitely exists in the original flat plane of the solar system. Pluto/Charon does NOT have either of these, like MOST comets...

If you don't know what orbital eccentricity is, what the Oort Clouds is, what the Kuiper Belt is, what Charon is, or you best reason is "it's been a planet so long, why change it?" then I say you're just about DONE in this conversation...thank you, but you really don't have a say in it. Go take an Astronomy class. Not ASTROLOGY...Astronomy; and if you don't know the difference between those; then really, let the rest of us worry about Pluto/Charon.

Answer 4

I am an amateur astronomer for 20 years. I have also discussed this subject with other amateur and professional astronomers in the past .

It have been known for decades that at some point Plutos position of a planet would be in Jeopardy. It was going to happen when another Pluto size object was found in the Kuiper belt. Pluto is a Trans-Neptunian object (TNO) in the Kupier Belt. For years astronomers have known this, it has just kept planethood because no others were know. Yet we all knew that it was just a matter of time. So Pluto is has it has been known by professional and amateur astronomers for years a TNO.

Pluto is different then other planets in quite a few ways. First Pluto is on in inclination to the planetary plane. That is high compared to the “real” planets. The other 8 planets lie on roughly a plane as you compare their orbits around the sun. Pluto is inclined on this plane by about 15 degrees. Pluto probably would not have been found until now, or even a latter date but it just so happened to be crossing the planetary plane when it was discovered. Had it been in the position it is now fairly far off the eliptic (the path the planetray plane makes through the sky) it would have went unnoticed till survays of the sky such as those being done today. Pluto also have a very eccentric orbit, it is such an ellipse that it is closer to the sun for a short period of it orbit (this is many years) then Neptune it this is the reason why it’s a “trans-Neptunian “ object and not just a Kuiper belt object. Also Pluto is very small, when compared to all other planets then Mercury. Had Pluto been found to be a planet on size alone the argument might have been made that out own moon “Luna” is also a planet as the moon orbit’s the sun and not the earth, we only put a small scallop in it’s orbit so tha at some points it’s close the to the sun then the Earth and at other points it farther. Because of Plutos Size, orbit outside the planetary plane, and eccentric orbit Pluto has always been an “odd ball” planet. If Pluto had been found to be a planet along with all the other several hundred predicted objects yet to be found similar to Pluto, we would probably have to make a sub group of planets that describe the first 8 as they do have additional charticersiats that make the similar that other Kuiper belt and Trans-Neptunian objects don’t have.

I have always thought the professional astronomers who wanted Pluto and other Trans-Neptunian objects to be classified as plants all had a desire or at least the opportunity to discover a new planet. As defined now the chances of a new planets being discovered are very remote.

Answer 5

It seems to be a double-bodied dwarf object with a rather irregular orbit far away from the Sun. People are saying it has a moon, but from what I understand, the so-called moon is of comparable size. Its orbit is also way off the ecliptic plane, as some have mentioned. In the days when it was just discovered and Walt Disney named a character after it, they did not have the technology to realize there are many similar objects a little further out. As our capabilities improve and we learn more, things must occasionally be redefined - so I think it is a good thing which was done.

Though we like to classify things, there are often "gray" areas in between categories. For example with weather, stratocumulus clouds occasionally break apart into small elements which at some point would simply be classified as cumulus. There are also situations where altocumulus extend higher in the atmosphere such that the round cloud elements become smaller and by themselves they would be considered cirrocumulus. In each case, at what point you would say they became cumulus and not stratocumulus or cirrocumulus and not altocumulus is to a large extent a matter of opinion. Astronomers seem to be having the same problem with Pluto's planetary status, though as I understand, it much more resembles those other objects a little further out than the 8 planets.

This answer may be a bit uninformed because I did not read much about the recent controversy or what scientist are doing, yet did study astronomy and planets to a significant extent. Nor have I gone on Yahoo! Answers recently because many times answers which can be proven as better (i.e., for scientific topics for which opinions are not relevant and facts are) are not chosen or voted as such.

Answer 6

The debate about Pluto's status as a planet has been going on under the surface for awhile. Pluto is in the Keiper Belt and some astronomers have considered it to be a Keiper Belt object, albeit a large one.
Re-classifying Pluto's status is more aimed at preventing the inclusion of ALL large Keiper Belt objects as planets. If not we might potentially have tens of planets if not many more.

Answer 7

Personally, I'd like to stick to the old belief that Pluto is indeed a planet, but if the "experts" wish to claim otherwise and say it's not, they should at least have come up with a better title than "dwarf planet". After all, if Pluto is a dwarf planet, is it not still a planet? That's like asking is a human being who has dwarfism still a human being? Of course they are! If Pluto has no atmosphere, call it a dead planet, or at least admit that a dwarf planet is still, in fact, a planet. Because unless it's the moon of a planet long since destroyed (and if so, how is the moon still in existence?) what else could it be?

Answer 8

It is like butter and margarine, in that the scientists can't make up their minds. In the oleo case, it's which is better for you - in this case it's planet status. Either way, I predict that in another 75 years (which is a blip in cosmological time), it will again be declared a planet. So really, there is no change - Pluto is the same celestial body orbiting the sun that it was before, and humans have decided that their labels rule the universe and that they need some publicity right now. This stunt changes nothing about Pluto, just our perception of it.

Answer 9

ok why in the world after many years would scientist go say pluto isnt a planet? if it isnt a planet now anymore why name it a planet years ago? do you know how many people are pissed cus we was taught it was 9 planets and now its 8? how many more planets are gona be said that they are not planets? what about earth will they declare that to be not a planet but that it hold life? hey you never know if they are sayin that the declaration of a planets has changed and thats why pluto no longer is a planet you never know

Answer 10

It is a dwarf planet!
The scientists just told us this.
It has always been questioned as to whether or not it was a real planet, and astronomers finally made some criteria, and decided that Pluto, along with others, and really just Dwarf Planets.

Answer 11

Since the planet Pluto is not a planet, there was made a new planet Xena. It was mention as a report some time last week by Yahoo! news itself.