How many ppl think that Pluto new class and name is stupid?

Question

If you haven't heard Pluto is no longer a planet class. Because it is a big ball of ice. (Jupiter is just a ball of gas thoough) And its new name is something like 0100110.

Does anyone else think this is stupid? I mean if a ball of gas is a plant why not a ball of ice? And why on earth change the name to a bunch of numbers? For 100s of years its been known as Pluto, so why not just leave it be as Pluto?

I think the whole thing is a load and some sciencetes is just trying to make a name for themselfs.

What do you think?

Oh...well I know one of the planets are just gas.

Answer 1

One fact that people just completely ignore is the one that pisses me off most of all about this whole debacle.

And let me add, this is one of the most common science questions and it bothers me every time i see this question....

Anyway, why the big rush? We all know it was discovered by some scientist from a small city who became somewhat of a cult hero in his home town before he passed away.

However, this cold blooded decision leaves his widow who is pretty damn old to fend for her husbands discovery. That poor lady must be furious and rightfully so. They (nasa or whoever pushed for this...) just couldn't wait until the poor lady passed could they?

Instead she has to explain over and over and over about how and why the ice block formerly known as Pluto IS in fact a planet.

I absolutely hate these scientists who recently sent a plutonium fueled rocket to go explore it ... OR DID THEY?

Not only does this provide guilt for the legacy and the living, this also lends cred to the idea there is possiblity something else going on with that rocket. Will they abandon that mission to (insert digits here) after all?

Answer 2

you misunderstand.

http://www.iau.org/fileadmin/content/pdfs/Resolution_GA26-5-6.pdf
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pluto

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.

Answer 3

Jupiter is not the only planet composed of gas. Saturn is also a gas giant. Pluto is no longer considered a planet because, to be frank, it never was. It doesn't lie on the elliptical plane of the other planets in the solar system, as well as the fact that it is quite small (smaller than our moon in fact). Also, it is believed to not originate in our solar system either. As for the "hundreds of years part," pluto was actually discovered in the early 20th century, by an American astronomer I believe.. something like the late 1930's. It's new name is just a technical reference, acknowledging that it isn't a planet, but people will most likely go on calling it "Pluto," and you shouldn't hesitate. A new classification for it doesn't change what it is.

Answer 4

I think it is pretty damn stupid. Its Pluto planet or not doesn't matter It was a planet when I was in school and it a planet now. As for getting it numbers as a name... OMG who fecking stupid and lame can you get? They should just leave things along.

I mean change is not always good. This is one of those times change wasn't good. It was a big fat wast of everyones time. I bet in a two years they tell us Jupiter isn't a Planet and Plute is.

As for a 100s year you maths pretty bad. But I guess you were just taking a stub at how long it been known as a planet because you didn't know for sure.

Answer 5

I agree with the pluto thing, but Jupiter have a rocky surface. That in my book is a planet. Pluto has been a planet since I don't know when. So, in my opinion PLUTO IS A PLANET

Answer 6

Please learn something about Pluto and the rest of our solar system (specifically Kuiper Belt Objects) before you say the decision is stupid, or else you only reveal your own ignorance.

The number you refer to is just Pluto's new numerical designation, it's name is still and always will be Pluto.

Answer 7

Yes, Pluto should not be expelled form our solar systems family. It is a stupid thought. They want to become famous by launching this idea.

Answer 8

About 5 billion

Answer 9

I think you are badly misinformed and you don't stop to check your facts before you launch into tirades based on misinformation you have picked up.

It was NOT reclassified as a dwarf planet because it is a big ball of ice. Four criteria were defined by the IAU in Prague in August 24th for what is a planet. It met three of them but not the fourth.

If anything, the real reason was because it was a SMALL ball (ice is irrelevant), Pluto is smaller than 7 moons of other planets (ours, the biggest four of Jupiter and the largest moon of Saturn and the largest moon of Neptune),

Next Pluto was only discovered in 1930. That isn't hundreds of years, that is 76 years. And demotion from status as a planet has happened before to the first four asteroids to be discovered in 1801-1807 which were regarded as planets initially, despite reservations about their size, but were demoted in the 1860s after more than half a century in the planet club and regarded as members of a class of asteroids thereafter. These were 1 Ceres, 2 Pallas, 3 Juno and 4 Vespa. (note how a number precedes the name).

By 1868 there were a total of 107 asteroids discovered (and 10 Hygiea was bigger than 3 Juno) and it was obvious that if they remained as planets, other asteroids would have to be admitted to the planet club, too.

When Pluto was discovered it was the only body we knew of beyond Neptine. Now we know of more than 1,000. A dozen or more approach Pluto in size, and one (136199 Eris, previously known as Xena) is bigger than Pluto.

Similarly, it was argued, that if Pluto remained a planet, we would have to let these other Trans-Neptunian Objects into the planetary club too. 136199 Eris is now regarded as a dwarf planet like 1 Ceres and Pluto, and there are twelve more including Sedna listed for consideration as members of that class.

It was the right decision in the 1860s to anticipate further discoveries (we now know not 107 asteroids but over 338,000 asteroids!) and it is the right decision now to anticipate further discoveries way out beyond Neptune.

136199 Eris orbits to twice Pluto's distance from the sun and Sedna to 20 times Pluto's distance from the sun, so how many more objects are there out there that we haven't discovered yet?

Finally the name, The Minor Planet Centre now refers to Pluto as 134340 Pluto. Just like 136199 Eris. You have the number wrong and you also have it completely wrong that its name is now dropped and it only has a number. That is not the case. You have received garbled information from unreliable sources.

All that has happened is that the cataloguing system that started in 1801 with 1 Ceres has now been brought up to date not just for asteroids but for TNOs too, Once an object's orbit is known with some precision then its provisional designation (eg 2003 UB 313) is replaced by a name (eg 136199 Eris) proposed by the discoverer (eg Mike Brown) that is acceptable to the IAU,

Of the 12 candidate dwarf planets, six have names, two have nicknames as well as designations and four just have designarions (all dating from 2002), They are at different stages of the naming process because different amounts of information on them are to hand, as of 2006.

The numbers should always be quoted as part of the name, as in some cases there would be ambiguity as to which object you mean, There is a moon of Jupiter called Io and another called Europa but there are also asteroids 52 Europa and 85 Io, Omit the number and it will be assumed you are talking about the moons. Why name the asteroids by the same names as the moons? Presumably they were running out of names of nymphs and goddesses from classical mythology and had to double up.

Answer 10

It is a humble ball of ice that never should have been labelled as a planet. They did the right thing by demoting it

100s of years???? It was only discovered in 1938