I mean they just considered it as a White Dwarf now. Plus we would have to make a new theme to memorize the eight planets, and what about the books in school, wouldn't they be wrong now if they had Pluto as our planet? This sucks
2006-08-25 13:35:57 · 26 answers · asked by Earl 2 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Astronomy & Space
This defently does suck! But unfortunatly you are correct. Pluto is no longer a planet. It was officially released the middle of this week some time. The reasoning, which is rediculous by the way, is that the planet itself was originally hesitated to be named a planet and because of its deterioration, it is no longer large enough to be considered a planet. In addition, there are other planets that have been discoveries in last few years that are larger than pluto that have to be taken accountable. Hope this helped!! :)
F.Y.I www.nytimes.com has a very interesting article on it or of course,you can always google it if you still have questions
2006-08-25 13:48:53 · answer #1 · answered by chrissyb02girl 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Do they consider it a white dwarf, or a dwarf planet? I think it is the latter, I think a white dwarf is a type of star.
I think that Pluto is a planet. It does orbit the sun, after all, and it has a moon! It does have a funky orbit, and it's kind of brought off track by Uranus and pulled in closer than Neptune sometimes, hey, just because it doesn't swing the way the rest of the planets do doesn't mean it should be excluded! It may have been sucked into the solar system a little later than the rest of the planets, but essentially it is a planet and part of our solar system. Of course, I'm not an astrophysicist, that's just my opinion.
Plus, and this will sound silly because it is, I'm a Scorpio, and I don't like to think that my sign is ruled by some kind of half planet. Just a thought.
2006-08-26 08:42:43 · answer #2 · answered by cay_damay 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
There's an old story that once, when Abraham Lincoln was watching a military parade and the pack mules were going by, he said to his aide, "If that tail were called 'leg', how many legs would the donkey have?" The aide said, "Five, Mr. President." Lincoln replied, "Nonsense, you can't turn a tail into a leg just by calling it a leg."
The moral of the story is that Pluto was and always will be just what it is. The word "Planet" is a term we humans use. "Planet" is a Greek word that meant "wanderer" and was used by the Ancient Greeks (specifically Plato) to denote "stars" that wandered relative to the heavens. In those days, nobody thought of the Earth as a planet. Eventually, Copernicus showed that the Sun was at the centre of our system, and the whole concept of a planet changed. But it was still crude, because science (telescopes, measurements, spacecraft, etc.) had no idea of the diversity we would eventually find.
Now the very concept of a planet is changing again, because we know so much more than in previous centuries. Really, we ought to divide the "planets" into at least three groups: terrestrials, gas giants, and icy dwarves; and there are other kinds of objects to account for too (e.g. asteroids, comets, moons).
Pluto is one of the icy dwarves. A lot of them are going to be discovered in coming years; maybe more than all the other planets combined. That's exciting. Whether it is called a planet or not doesn't really matter; it is what it is.
Incidentally, Clyde Tombaugh, who discovered Pluto early in the 20th century, often had to argue about its status. He said that in the end it didn't matter what people called it, "It's there."
And that is the important thing!
Cheers ;)
2006-08-25 14:03:03 · answer #3 · answered by artful dodger 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
First, it's not a White Dwarf; it's a "dwarf planet." Secondly, it looks like there are lots (maybe LOTS and LOTS) of things beyond Pluto in our solar system that may be even more "planet-y" than Pluto is. If they'd allowed Pluto to still be called a "planet," they would've had to classify a bunch of other rocks out there planets, too. The textbooks would still have been wrong, and if you think it's going to be a pain coming up with a new memory device for 8 planets, work out one for dozens . . .or THOUSANDS!
2006-08-25 13:47:42 · answer #4 · answered by hquin_tset 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Pluto is no longer considered a traditional planet. It is considered a dwarf planet. It is smaller than the United States and does not follow a round orbit. Plus, they have found larger round objects orbiting our sun with the new telescopes they have come up with. Would you rather come up with a new way to memorize 12, then 15, then 23, then 110, and so on?
2006-08-25 13:40:32 · answer #5 · answered by moose_skinner 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
A white dwarf is a type of STAR.
Your knowlege of astronomy shows how unqualified you are to make a call on what Pluto is. So there. If you are unhappy about your books now being wrong, have a thought for all the books that were written before 1930, before anyone even knew Pluto existed.
2006-08-25 13:42:55 · answer #6 · answered by Vincent G 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
It is not a 'white dwarf' now. A white dwarf is a kind of star, not a type of planet. Pluto is now classified as a 'dwarf planet'. And yes, the new textbooks will have to be changed to reflect this.
2006-08-25 13:41:02 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
Astronomers realized that if we include Pluto in our definition of planet, then we would have to start adding a *lot* more:
Starting right away with Ceres, Charon, and Xena (currently a temporary name), and then probably Sedna, Quaoar (ready to prounounce that?), Varuna, Ixion, Orcus, Huya, Rhadamanthus, Deucalion, and probably a few asteroids as well, such as Pallas, Vesta, Hygiea, Interamnia, etc. (I am not making these names up.)
What would that do to the memorizing themes or science books?
2006-08-25 13:48:21 · answer #8 · answered by secretsauce 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Yeah it does. They have the wrong idea. I cannot believe they are going to do that. They say they are going to consider it as that because no one could possibly live on it...I mean what does that have to do with it? God! they now have to change evrything to get it out of the school's and stuff. You are right this sucks big time.
Plus what they are going to do to the moon(my mom thinks they might not do it) but they say they will and they have also "misplaced" the tape that had the First Astronaut on the moon landing...I mean that is such bul- I mean stupidity!!!
2006-08-25 13:41:40 · answer #9 · answered by Cracker <3 Beaner Bear 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
no it is not, they changed the criteria for what's a planet now, we lost the new ones also. Pluto couldn't even hold it's own atmosphere it really was not a planet any way
2006-08-25 13:40:52 · answer #10 · answered by The Key Master 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋