What do you think is the major effect to society now that Pluto is no longer a planet?

Question

---including educational institutions and Astronomy... or there is NO real effect of it to mankind?

Answer 1

The only major effect ought to be to get people to understand how science develops and needs new categories and classifications and concepts in the light of new discoveries, But that would only happen if what has just happened at the IAU is clearly explained to the public, What seems to be happening instead is that most people formed a sentimental attachment to Pluto and are mourning its passing.

Pluto hasn't gone anywhere, it just got reclassified as a dwarf planet along with Ceres Charon, Xena and a dozen others, mostly Trans-Neptunian Objects like Charon and Xena, but three of them are, like Ceres, asteroids lying between Mars and Jupiter.

There is understandable dismay at Pluto being demoted in status but people need to understand the reasons the IAU had to grapple with definitions and categories at this time,:

(1) in 1930 we knew of just one body lying beyond the orbit of Neptune. Now we know of more than 1000

(2) we are discovering asteroids at a rate of 5000 a month

(3) we now know of 200+ extra-solar planets orbiting 170+ other stars, some of which we now know to have asteroid belts

It is conceivable the IAU may create more categories in the future in the light of more discoveries, The moment we find an extra-Solar System planet with extra-terrestrial life on it, for example, I would expect Habitable Zone Planet to be a new category and only Earth and Mars to be in it.

We already have the distinction between terrestrial planet (the inner 4 planets) and gas giant (the outer 4 planets) and are assessing new extra-Solar-System planets in the light of that distinction and a new category name for the informally-named "hot Jupiters" (i.e. large planets orbiting near to their star at less than 1 AU distance) of which we know several, may not be far away,

As science expands its knowledge, it needs more concepts and categories with which to describe that knowledge, That is perfectly normal and should neither surprise nor alarm us,

Creating new categories and reclassifying known objects in the light of them has happened before: in the 19th Century when the number of planets was pruned from 11 to 7 out of concern that being consistent and admitting other, newly discovered bodies to the planetary club that were similar to the ones they chose to kick out instead would have meant the number of planets could rapidly start to escalate and mushroom out of control,

To understand what is going on now, it helps to understand what went on then,

The number of bodies in the Solar System known to astronomers has been burgeoning for a long time now, but the general public seems unaware of this, given the way people blithely talk of Ceres (discovered 1801) Charon (discovered 1978) and Xena (discovered 2003) having "just been discovered", And given how one Yahoo answerer recently confidently asserted that Ceres, Charon and Xena were all "newly formed"!

(I wish people wouldn't make up astronomical theory on the hoof like that! The gullible will only go and repeat such Malapropisms as gospel truth!) (Gossip-tell truth would be a more apt description,)

There was a similar definitions crisis in the early 19th century and again in the mid-19th Century as the number of known objects in the Solar System started to grow and grow,

By 1807 the 8 Solar System bodies known to classical astronomy (the Sun, the Earth, our Moon and the 5 classical planets known from antiquity, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn) (1 star, 6 planets, 1 moon) had grown to 26. Uranus was found in 1781 making 7 planets. There were 4 Jovian moons, 7 Saturnine moons and 2 Uranian moons, 14 in all

And then there was the discovery of the first four asteroids. These were 1 Ceres on January 1, 1801, 2 Pallas on March 28, 1802, 3 Juno on September 1, 1804, and 4 Vesta on March 29, 1807,

What were astronomers to call these new objects? They weren't moons as they rotated around the Sun, so they had to be planets, didn't they? As there was, initially, no other category but moons or planets to put them in.

After 2 Pallas was discovered though, Sir William Herschel (the discoverer of Uranus) coined the term "asteroid" meaning "star-like"), in 1802.

But Ceres was meantime assigned a planetary symbol, and remained listed as a planet in astronomy books and tables (along with 2 Pallas, 3 Juno and 4 Vesta) for about half a century until further asteroids were discovered.

So we now had 1 star, 11 planets and 14 Moons, the beginnings of a distinction between major and minor planets and a sense of unease as to what we would do if more asteroids were discovered as the first four were all disappointingly small in size, so did they really belong in the planetary club? (Similar doubts were expressed about Pluto, right from the outset in 1930,)

38 years pass and then in 1845 the asteroid 5 Astraea is discovered and on September 23, 1846 the planet Neptune and a mere 17 days later on October 10, 1846, Neptune's moon, Triton. (We now have 1 star, 12 Planets 15 Moons and 1 non-planetary Asteroid.)

The pace of discovery then starts to really hot up. Four more asteroids in nine months: 6 Hebe on July 1, 1847, 7 Iris on August 13, 1847, 8 Flora on October 18, 1847, and 9 Metis April 25, 1848

Then on September 16, 1848 an 8th moon of Saturn called Hyperion is discovered,

Plus a further 6 asteroids are found in just over two years: 10 Hygiea on April 12, 1849, 11 Parthenope on May 11, 1850, 12 Victoria on September 13, 1850, 13 Egeria on November 2, 1850, 14 Irene on May 19, 1851 and 15 Eunomia on July 29, 1851.

And on October 24, 1851 a 3rd and a 4th moon of Uranus: called Ariel and Umbriel were discovered.

So now we had 42 objects: 1 star 12 planets 18 moons and 11 asteroids. If the latest asteroids were all to be regarded as planets, making a total of 23 planets (and 10 Hygiea was bigger than 3 Juno, just like Xena is bigger than Pluto), it was likely to start getting silly (by 1868 the number of asteroids was to rise to 107 and Victorian schoolchildren would have needed a massive 115-word mnemonic to remember all the names).

The unease grew to a crisis, a redefinition was clearly necessary and an inevitable decision was taken to regard all 15 asteroids as a separate category from planets and Ceres, Pallas, Juno and Vesta were kicked out of the planetary club, just like Pluto has been kicked out now.

There are some clear parallels between the situation in the 1850s and the situation now, Four under-sized runts had obtained planetary status, with seemingly more to follow as they were discovered, creating an overwhelming feeling among astronomers that the currency would be devalued if all these further objects were to then be automatically awarded planetary status. So they cried Whoa! And called a halt. And created a new category, Just like the IAU has now done,

SO HOW MANY OBJECTS HAVE WE GOT IN THE SOLAR SYSTEM NOW?

Stars: 1

Planets: 8

Moons: over 80 known moons of the dwarf planets, asteroids and other small solar system bodies.

(The asteroid 87 Sylvia has 2 moons for example as does the Kuiper Belt Object KBO 2003 EL61.)

AND another 162 moons orbiting around planets: Mercury has none, Venus has none, Earth has 1, Mars has 2, Jupiter has 63, Saturn has 56, Uranus has 27, Neptune has 13.

Kuiper Belt Objects: over 800 (all discovered since 1992).

Trans-Neptunian Objects: over 1000 (includes the 800+ KBOs) i,e, there are 200+ in the Scattered Disk and the Oort Cloud.

Asteroids: Hundreds of thousands of asteroids have been discovered within the solar system and the present rate of discovery is about 5000 per month. As of July 23, 2006, from a total of 338,186 registered minor planets, 134,339 have orbits known well enough to be given permanent official numbers. Of these, 13,242 have official names.

Current estimates put the total number of asteroids above 1 km in diameter in the solar system to be between 1.1 and 1.9 million

So you can see

(a) why some definitions are needed and why reclassification is necessary

(b) how totally unaware of the state of scientific knowledge the general public is and how uninformed people are when they get excited at tales of "3 new planets being discovered" and wonder if there might perhaps be more where those came from,

Finally, these issues need to be seen in the context of the 205 extra-solar planets we now know to exist and the asteroid belts that have now been detected in some of those stellar systems,

Consistency being a desirable thing to achieve in science, whatever definitions and categories the IAU now adopt, they need to be applicable to every star with other objects in orbit around it, throughout the entire universe, That is the context in which Pluto's status is now being discussed,

Answer 2

Universal chaos, world-wide upheaval, inter species marriages!
Actually, very little but remember that only 438 astronomers voted on this out of over 10,000+ world-wide. Let's see what shakes in the long run.
In the 1920's Gustav Holst wrote an amazing piece of music
called 'The Planets'. There were only 8 planets at that time. I highly recommend this symphony to everyone. In the recent 1990's an additional piece, was added for Pluto by a modern composer. Oh that poor composer! What do they do with that new additional piece now? Not to mention the astrological affects for any Plutonians out there......

Answer 3

I think that educational institutions will bear the brunt of this change because they will have to purchase updated information. I think it may be a great advance for astronomers...they know what makes a planet more than the average joe and if Pluto isn't then it isn't. I know that I will always remember it as the ninth planet and when I'm telling stories to my great grandchildren I'm sure they will be amazed to hear about a planet that once was.

Answer 4

Pluto, the final planet to connect the heavenly pantheon, grew to alter into the 1st to leave it. The status of Pluto were under communicate for it slow, yet with the invention of 2003 UB313, nicknamed Xena, the question grew to alter into acute, for it probably had as lots stunning as Pluto to be stated as a planet. On August 24, 2006, the worldwide Astronomical Union shocked the international by using balloting in a clean definition of planet, one that would desire to exclude Pluto and placed across the full variety right down to eight. (There had in the previous been been sturdy hypothesis that the redefinition might carry the full as much as twelve somewhat of down.) Pluto became somewhat labeled as a dwarf planet, alongside with Ceres and the aforementioned Xena. the main distinction between a dwarf planet and the genuine ingredient is that the dwarf variety has no longer cleared the part of its orbital direction. This redefinition met with a wave of protests from people who wanted to be certain the 9th planet grandfathered in, which incorporates yet no longer constrained to supporters of the late Clyde Tombaugh, who stumbled on Pluto in 1930. His widow, in spite of the shown fact that, suggested he could have been accepting of the IAU's determination for the reason that "he became a scientist" and understood that astronomers had to evaluate newly stumbled on products interior the Kuiper Belt (the place Pluto is placed). yet warring parties of Pluto's demotion stay unconsoled and have generated a thriving industry in T-shirts, mugs and different memorabilia. certainly one of the slogans of this circulation became one that performed on the mnemonic for the names of the erstwhile 9:

Answer 5

In the long run, probably very little.

In the short run, however, I hope it reminds people that *everything* in science is subject to constant, relentless revision. Anyone who thinks that scientists are capable of grand conspiracies to protect their sacred cows just got a rude awakening. Even when a finding is unpopular or surprising, scientists will eventually come around to it IF it is the scientifically correct thing to do.

I will miss the planet Pluto and the notion of nine planets ... but its the scientifically correct thing to do. It's a good day for science.

Answer 6

Hindu astrology will be disappointed as they always had 9 planets for last 2000 years. They Will continue to have 9 planets, but the link to modern astronomy will be broken.

Answer 7

My Very Educated Mother Just Served Us Nine...
Served Us Newtons?

Text Books will start showing their age. But there will be a few old ones before Pluto was a planet that can be reused.

Answer 8

Even though Pluto is not a planet of our solar system anymore, i don't feel terribly bad about it. It's not like that will alter our lifestyle dramatically; only the science and astrology textbook companies will lose out because they will be officially obsolete information. To be honest with you, i don't even think i can name all of the planets.

Answer 9

On society? None whatsoever. Astrologers may pitch a fit, but who cares?

On science? There will be a big brouhaha for a few months, but when the dust settles the final effect will turn out to be minor. That's my take, anyway.

Answer 10

i HAVE ALWAYS BEEN TOLD I COME FROM PLUTO...you know...WAY out there. So I guess the major effect to society is that now there is no explanation for me among the people with whom I have contact!

Answer 11

It shows we are learning more about space. To determine that is a big step in astronomy. I hope more great discoveries will come