2006-09-18 08:32:53 · 13 answers · asked by jaC31 1 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Astronomy & Space
Probes from Earth have visited Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune.
So, before the demotion we had visited all the planets but one.
Now, we can say we've been to them all!
A typical bureaucratic solution. Don't actually do anything, just redefine the goal downward!
2006-09-18 08:34:41 · answer #1 · answered by American citizen and taxpayer 7 · 0⤊ 2⤋
i can't see that the reclassification of pluto will have any effect on society, but knowledge and understanding of nature is always important. i would argue that it was society, specifically the scientific community, that realized that it had mistakenly classified pluto as a planet.
http://www.iau.org/fileadmin/content/pdfs/Resolution_GA26-5-6.pdf
pluto is not a planet, but pluto orbits the sun, is round, does not have an isolated orbit (a bunch of other similar bodies have similar orbits.), and is not a satellite so it is a dwarf planet. this does not change anything about the solar system or pluto. it just corrects the mistake of classifying pluto as a planet initially.
this same thing has happened before. beginning in 1800, astronomers found a few bodies orbiting between the orbits of mars and jupiter, and they finally stopped calling them planets after the fourth discovery. astronomers then added numerals to the names, and pluto recently got its numeral. 150 years from now, no one will think of "134340 pluto" as a planet. very few will even know we classified it as a planet. "1 ceres" and "136199 eris" are other dwarf planets.
i have been waiting for this since i was about twelve. i feel somewhat satisfied. i knew that pluto didn't fit the pattern set by the major bodies in the solar system so it was an anomaly. it just felt illogical and "out of place". this was the right thing to do, believe me. i don't understand why so many are having such a problem with this.
i don't know how long this will drag on tho. many planetary scientists are not satisfied that the definition is rigorous enough.
2006-09-18 19:49:47 · answer #2 · answered by warm soapy water 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The demotion of Pluto will cause a tiny rip in the Space-Time continuum that will ultimately send the universe careening out of control.
The only impact the discovery of Pluto had on society was to make several generations of school children learn the name of one more planet. The Demotion of pluto from planet to dwarf planet will amount to naught.
2006-09-18 15:44:23 · answer #3 · answered by Deep Thought 5 · 0⤊ 2⤋
Pluto has been reclassified. Its classification as a planet was not a mistake. It was consistent with our knowledge at the time. Now that , thanks to developments in astronomical technology , we now know about a number of Pluto-like objects , a new class of objects in the solar system has been identified,namely , " Dwarf Planets".As knowledge is added , at times it becomes necessary to rearrange it.No big deal.The advantage of the new classification is that the number of planets will remain frozen at eight , while the number of Dwarf Planets wil go up and up for at least some more years.
2006-09-19 07:12:08 · answer #4 · answered by Rajesh Kochhar 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It has caused people to debate the issue and to think about the nature of science, which is a good thing. Other than that I don't think Pluto's classification affects society at all - it hardly affects scientists!
2006-09-18 15:55:14 · answer #5 · answered by kris 6 · 1⤊ 1⤋
Money allocated for important things in the educational system will have to be spent on new text books. Children will not get as good of an education and the bad effects will be felt for decades.
2006-09-19 11:03:19 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
It had a dramatic effect of Disneys animation studio... I could never figure out why Pluto could not talk but Goofy could.
A Pluto probe is on the way.
2006-09-18 15:44:10 · answer #7 · answered by Holden 5 · 0⤊ 2⤋
well they said pluto wasnt a planet because
1: it only has one moon
2 its orbit isnt circular--its eliptical and irregular as it crosses path with neptune oh my goodness we can't have that
hmm sounds like EARTH....
with these defintions - in my universe there are only two bodies...the sun, jupiter and a bunch of debris/junk
actually i think they demoted pluto so someone would take notice of their silliness/ conference....i will always regard pluto as a planet...no matter what those fools think
2006-09-18 15:42:35 · answer #8 · answered by Jack Kerouac 6 · 0⤊ 3⤋
fo reall
who teh fak gives a fack about pluto?
when there 1001 more interesting , and iportant things
out there
2006-09-18 19:35:54 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
That we now know that scientists make big mistakes and that the passage of time can resolve some of them.
In this case it was that the improvement in instrumentation led us to realize that our solar system was slightly more complex than what we first observed.
2006-09-18 15:42:35 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 2⤋