If I called my cat a car would she lose her legs and grow wheels? Well it's the same thing with Pluto?

Question

What ever we call things does not change what they are. If Pluto is called a planet or not it's still up there. Right? Unless some comet knocks it out of orbit right? Can we all calm down on this? Thoughts please.

Cat is a girl and is already named. Can't call her Pluto. If she was a boy I could have called her Mars, since she is a red tabby.

Answer 1

You know, most of you are making way to big of a deal about this. Personally I think you're doing it on purpose because you're just looking to get attention, but whatever...

I'm a scientist. In fact I'm an astrophysicist. Planets are a large part of what I study and for me, and others like me, this ruling that Pluto is no longer a planet is not only exciting, but also very important. Up until now there has never been a formal definition of what a 'planet' is or isn't in astronomy. Having no definition led to lots of confusion over the years as to what should be or shouldn't be a planet. It was mentioned earlier that keeping Pluto as a planet would mean that we'd have add a lot more 'planets' to the solar system because we're constantly finding big chunks of rock and ice out beyond Pluto. If we keep up the rate at which we're finding them, then 50 years from now there could be 100 planets in the solar system. That's ridiculous. I'm glad that the IAU finally did what it should have done years ago and stripped Pluto of its status and set up a formal definition.

Answer 2

Yeah, A rose is a rose & by any other name it is still a rose even if we call it a tulip. Pluto is what it is which is what every person on PLANET Earth has learned to call a planet. Okay, so now it is "not a planet" but rather a drawf planet. WTF!?! The term drarf planet still has planet in it. Why is it SUCH a big deal. I mean if its gonna be considered & no duly named a drawf planet, then why on Earth can't we still call it a planet. Okay it is small & has an orbit pattern that is differnt from other so called planets & crosses Jupiters so now it is defined differently than it was previously. There are PEOPLE that are small ( hey drawfs even) and some of them have different movement (orbit is direction of movement)from the norm-----but they are still people & it doesn't make them any LESS of a person/people just because of size & movement differences! Right? Okay so let's just keep calling it a planet in defiance & our reason won't be out of ignorance that it is "no longer a planet" but because we still BELIEVE that it is. Come to think of it, we only BELIEVE that it is a planet because "they" taught us that it was. Jeez. I'm sure in several months hardly anyone will really care that much about anyways & there will even be some people that never "got the memo" that it is no longer considered a planet in our solar system. Oh yeah this is funny the old acronym to remember the planets: "My Very Educated Mother Just Served Us Nine Pizzas" or sometimes same beginning (M.V.E.M.J). Showed Us Nine Planets Well, now what is it gonna be she just showed us Nine....?... Or just served us Nothing...?.... Anyways, it appears that NASA needs to update thier info online-they still have Pluto as a planet! Look:
http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/profile.cfm?Object=SolarSys&Display=Kids
Aw, well I think I'm almost over it already. Have a good weekend!

Answer 3

Not really, it's more like your cat always had wheels and calling it a car is just more accurate.
Pluto should never have been a planet, it got away with it as there was no clear definition of planet and it seemed to be more like a planet than an asteroid so it was called a planet even though it wasn't quite like the others.
As we have found more detailed information about Pluto and found other similar objects to Pluto it makes more sense to classify it and the others like it as the new class of dwarf planets.

Answer 4

Hear hear! I couldn't agree more. Like many others, I have a sentimental attachment to Pluto's status as a planet. But as the IAU decided, it's just not a realistic description. If we count Pluto as a planet, then we're going to have to count every large Kuiper Belt Object that we find in the future. This will be dozens at least, possibly hundreds.

And folks don't think THAT will confuse the kids even more??? (Having to memorize all those names.) The Pluto controversy itself is going to teach kids far more about our solar system than they ever would have learned without it. If anything, Pluto is going to have an increase in status...instead of being the most lowly planet, it will be the king of dwarf planets and Kuiper belt objects.

Frankly, the more I think about, the more I realize this is a good thing for Pluto and for childrens' general knowledge of the solar system. Still, the televised media reports I saw yesterday were making numerous mistakes on describing the IAU's ruling. Let's hope our teachers can do better.

Answer 5

Good points.

However, I have just received word that the demotion of Pluto will decrease property values there by 96%, resulting in a possible Declaration of Independence by Pluto. They will probably go to war, but their only weapons are frozen balls of methane. But then again, those would really hurt if they hit you. Can you say instant freeze burn?

Answer 6

this is true. last nite i was talking to my dog and he sed that pluto is actually an honored name in the canine community. according to cain (my dog) "pluto" is as revered to dogs as chuck norris is to humanoids. i never knew this.

anyway, after our nightly arm wrestling tournament, (can't stand a sore loser) he too wondered out loud if indeed that the planetary status change was due to the secret battle that humanoids and canines have been waging since the original pluto was a big star, albeit cartoonish star. was it outta jealousy? could there be a conspiracy by canines to eradicate all uses of the word pluto other than for their beloved god. (note that most dyslexic dogs already think they're god).

i dunno, maybe it's one of those mysteries of life we'll never understand, like how they get the white stuff between the cookies. life is strange like that.

Answer 7

Agree.

Maybe it's worth discussing if there should be a third cathegory of "dwarf planets", or if its better to say that there are all kind of gray shades between planets, asteroides and comets.

But as far as the sementics goes, I can't get excited.

Answer 8

Peter Pan, Michael Jackson, Me?

Answer 9

Why don't you call the cat pluto.

Answer 10

I think what they are doing is dumb.Kids learning about the planets right now are so confused