Why should Pluto be a planet?

Question

I need logical arguments

Answer 1

Pluto, the last planet to join the heavenly pantheon, became the first to leave it. The status of Pluto had been under discussion for some time, but with the discovery of 2003 UB313, nicknamed Xena, the question became acute, for it seemingly had as much right as Pluto to be called a planet.

On August 24, 2006, the International Astronomical Union surprised the world by voting in a new definition of planet, one that would exclude Pluto and bring the total number down to eight. (There had previously been been strong speculation that the redefinition would bring the total up to 12 instead of down.)

Pluto was instead classified as a dwarf planet, along with Ceres and the aforementioned Xena. The main difference between a dwarf planet and the real thing is that the dwarf variety has not cleared the area of its orbital path.

This redefinition met with a wave of protests from those who wanted to see the ninth planet grandfathered in, including but not limited to supporters of the late Clyde Tombaugh, who discovered Pluto in 1930. His widow, however, said he would have been accepting of the IAU's decision since "he was a scientist" and understood that astronomers had to take into account newly discovered objects in the Kuiper Belt (where Pluto is located).

But opponents of Pluto's demotion remain unconsoled and have generated a thriving industry in T-shirts, mugs and other memorabilia. Among the many slogans of this movement was one which played on the mnemonic for the names of the erstwhile nine:

"My! Very educated morons just screwed up numerous planetariums."

Answer 2

Pluto is a planet - it just has the adjective Dwarf.

What is not clear is what is the minimum mass and size of regular (no adjective) planet. Subjectively - many believe that they should be larger than our Moon. Others argue that the Moon is a dual planet with the Earth (since the moon is never pulled in retrograde motion by the Earth as it orbits the Sun). This would make both the earth and moon not regular planets.

These questions will not be answered until we understand how planets form "regular" orbits and are able to clear other objects from their orbit. In other words, the definition is based upon something that we don't understand yet nor can extend to observations outside of our solar system. Therefore we have as much ambiguity that we had before in what constitutes a planet. Only this time Pluto is not one - at least not without the adjective.

Answer 3

Why shouldn't it be? That is a more logical arguement. As far as debates go, status quo is the winner unless proven otherwise. Even with its recent demotion, most still think of it as a planet. The real question is, why shouldn't it? It hasn't cleared its orbit? Neither has Neptune as Pluto crosses it. How bout the rest of them? All of them haven't cleared their orbits from comets...Invalid argument for the sake of not calling it a planet.

Size? Well, no one ever said anything about size making the difference. Until recently. Then, the rule put down was "it has to have enough mass to make its self round." Umm, ok, it passed that criteria, and was demoted anyway. Not valid either.

Why shouldn't pluto be a planet?

Oh yeah, NASA didn't take it out. IAU did and very few of the members were there for that meeting.

Answer 4

Pluto should be aplanet coz' it revolves round the sun
it has a moon ,charon, like all jjovian planets
but its orbit is not in symmetry with all other planets
i think this should be one of the reasons that nasa excluded this planet from S.S.

Answer 5

MY question is: how does Pluto being a planet or not affect our lives! Besides being able to recite all the planets of the solar system and printing new Science books.... it makes no difference to 99.99% of the population.

Answer 6

And i thought pluto was a dog...lol. um well, there proves otherwise that if a giant or small gasious body that orbits the sun, then i would assume that any other planet that was made up of entirely gas wouldn't be a planet. And that doesn't make sense does it? lol. you get the point.

Answer 7

pluto is not a planet. NASA just take it out from planet group.

Answer 8

first worry about earth. May exist for some couple of years.......then u go to Pluto

Answer 9

It orbits the sun in regulated manner and has its own moon, Charon. And cuz Tom found it confund it!

Answer 10

It orbits the sun....has gravity...large enough to build a city or 10....
probably has mineral deposits....