I Just found out that we now have 8 planets (no pluto).?

Question

Why isn't it a planet anymore?

Answer 1

Yeah, it really puts a damper on my weekend travel plans too. No I gotta get my passport changed and find connecting flights from Saturn...it's just a big headache now.

Answer 2

Great news isn't it.

I think the big plan is to make Disney's Pluto (the dog) much more original.
Imagine how much money that must have cost. But, soon enough, Pluto will be nothing but a floating, forgotten rock - and all mention of the name will bring people to Disney World!

Also, we're considering eradicating all persons by the name of Donald - Or the more peaceful solution would be to clothe ducks. We're not sure yet, but, driven by our success in degrading and erasing a planet from the skies, we're confident in our ultimate success!

Answer 3

Pluto was "demoted" to planetoid/planetesimal status primarily because it has a highly erratic orbit, which they've known since it was discovered in 1930.

Part of Pluto's orbit is actually INSIDE the orbit of Neptune, the outermost "full planet" in the new scheme. This puts it in the same class as such non-planet objects as comets and other planetesimals.

You may have learned about the asteroid belt -- that is, an orbiting collection of space rocks from objects the size of a grain of sand to objects a third the size of our Moon, located between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter. In addition to this, there is also the Kuiper Belt, a similar collection of objects outside the orbit of Neptune, and beyond that is the Oort cloud, named for Dutch astronomer Jan Oort who first proposed its existence in 1950.

The Kuiper Belt and Oort Cloud are primarily known as home to comets, and appear to be primarily made up of huge chunks of ice. Quaoar, Orcus, and Sedna (thought for a while to be a possible tenth planet) are the largest objects yet detected outside the orbit of Pluto.

One of the arguments FOR the retention of Pluto as a planet is that Pluto has its own satellite, the moon called Charon. (In Greek and Roman mythology, Charon was the name of the man who rowed dead souls across the river Styx to the land of the dead, ruled by the god Pluto). Pluto remains, at present, the only known trans-Neptunian object with its own satellite. However, because of the great distances involved (the Oort cloud extends, by some accounts, up to three light years out from our own Sun), there is by no means a full record of objects in the Kuiper Belt or the Oort Cloud.

Answer 4

This debate has been going on for years. Also there could be two new planets beyond pluto. I watch alot of discovery and there is new stuff everyday. Outerspace is so large. We may never know everything.

Answer 5

It has something to do with it being an irregular (not round) shape AND not having its own orbit (its orbit is eccentri and on occasion intersects the orbit of Neptune).... and it's a wee small bit-o-thing too. I think they are trying to come up with a new name for the type of thing it is, maybe "plutoid" or even naming it a "Tombaugh Object" after the guy who discovered Pluto.

Answer 6

Its too far past Uranus.

Really, it has to do with gravitational pull, among other things. Pluto is considered a part of the Cyber Belt.

Answer 7

Yes. It's a heart-breaking news, isn't it?

And they decided to drop pluto by means of a vote.

Answer 8

Uh, did you happen to notice the dozens of questions about this? I can see this subject is getting redundant very quickly....why can't folks simply read the answers that are already here innstead of repeating the question ad nauseum?

Answer 9

It doesn't dominate it's own orbit, it invades Neptune's. That's why it's now a dwarf planet.

Answer 10

So what are they calling it then, is it a moon without a planet to orbit?