Is pluto a planet?

Answer 1

pluto is not a planet. some consider pluto and charon to be a binary system, but two small bodies orbit this system. they are called nix and hydra. this does not change anything about the solar system or pluto. it just corrects the mistake of classifying pluto as a planet initially.

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 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 2

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:

Answer 3

With better telescopes and an orbiting satellite station, we have discovered dozens of objects in the solar system that might be argued to be planets.

To keep the number down and manageable, they defined planet to be a very round object, of sufficient size, to clear away a regular orbit in space where it moves.

Upon its first discovery, Pluto was called a planet. Apparently, now, that was premature.

Pluto might be large enough, just, but it has a very irregular orbit and lives mostly out with the comets of the Kuipper belt. It also revolves in its orbit as much around its "moon", Charon, as it does around the Sun. Charon was another candidate for planet.

So they just call it a Dwarf planet, to avoid calling asteroid Ceres, and Xena planets, as well as bunches of others, planets as well.

Our own moon is slowly moving farther from earth, so someday it will become a dwarf planet, too.

Answer 4

On August 24, 2006, the International Astronomical Union passed a new definition of planet that excludes Pluto and puts it in a new category of "dwarf planet."

Answer 5

Not anymore. It's been stripped of its planet status. How ridiculous. I don't care what anybody says, Pluto will always be a planet to me! My very educated mother just served us NACHOs?
That doesn't sound right.

Answer 6

Not anymore. Scientists have called it a Dwarf Planet.

Answer 7

I heard the scientists no longer consider it a planet. I think that's stupid. It was always a planet so what gives them the right to change that now?

Answer 8

Not any more. What a stupid thing that is...how call you tell us Pluto isn't a planet anymore? We had to learn it all, and now we have to tell our kids to un-learn it. Go ahead and add more if you want, but to take one away? That's ghetto.

Answer 9

I can't remember how many planets are in the Solar System now.

My
Very
Efficient
Memory
Just
Stores
Up
Nine
(Planets)

Unless Neptune changes it's name to something beginning with an E, I'm stuffed!!!

Answer 10

"dwarf planet"

Sounds like a planet to me.