REMEMBER!!!!!!!!!! BRIEF BUT DESCRIPTIVE
2006-12-05 01:19:29 · 9 answers · asked by Nya 1 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Astronomy & Space
Capping years of intense debate, astronomers resolved Thursday to demote Pluto in a wholesale redefinition of planethood that is being billed as a victory of scientific reasoning over historic and cultural influences. But the decision is already being hotly debated.
Officially, Pluto is no longer a planet.
The resolution
The decision establishes three main categories of objects in our solar system.
Planets: The eight worlds starting with Mercury and moving out to Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune.
Dwarf planets: Pluto and any other round object that "has not cleared the neighborhood around its orbit, and is not a satellite."
Small solar system bodies: All other objects orbiting the sun.
Pluto and its moon Charon, which would both have been planets under the initial definition proposed Aug. 16, now get demoted because they are part of a sea of other objects that occupy the same region of space. Earth and the other eight large planets have, on the other hand, cleared broad swaths of space of any other large objects.
"Pluto is a dwarf planet by the ... definition and is recognized as the prototype of a new category of trans-Neptunian objects," states the approved resolution.
Dwarf planets are not planets under the definition, however.
2006-12-05 01:28:45 · answer #1 · answered by DanE 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
No definition of "planet" by an official body of scientists existed before the early 21st century. Until the beginning of the 1990s, there was little need for a definition. In 1995 they discovered hundreds of objects that could have been classified as planets. One of them, Eris, is actually larger than Pluto. Because of the magnitude of objects found the International Astronomical Union placed a "true" definition of the word planet and Pluto did not fit the description.
2006-12-05 09:56:30 · answer #2 · answered by Crystal-Ball 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Pluto is now a dwarf planet, and rightly so. It is actually a Kuiper belt object, one of thousands or even millions of bodies of leftover material drifting around in the far reaches of the solar system. If Pluto remained classified as a planet, so would more and more of those as they get discovered.
Pluto's orbit is also way out of whack with the major planets, being tilted out of our orbital plane and also getting closer to the sun then Neptune for part of its year. Even its discovery was by sheer accident, as it just happened to be in the predicted position at the time but did not have enough mass to explain why Neptune's orbit was not quite as it was expected to be.
Pluto's story is an interesting blip in the history of astronomy, nothing more
2006-12-05 11:02:19 · answer #3 · answered by hznfrst 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Pluto was thought to be a moon that escaped from Neptune but scientists later discoverd that it has a moon for itself. Anyway Pluto is a described as a dwarf planet because of it's size.
2006-12-05 09:30:11 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
"Pluto is a dwarf planet by the ... definition and is recognized as the prototype of a new category of trans-Neptunian objects," states the approved resolution.
Dwarf planets are not planets under the definition, however.
2006-12-05 09:23:49 · answer #5 · answered by jenivive 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Well I'm from Pluto,and just can't understand why you humans chose to not see my home as a planet)-:
2006-12-05 09:22:36 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
its classed as a dwarf planet because it has not cleared the neighbourhood around its orbit of rocks and debris
2006-12-05 09:29:38 · answer #7 · answered by martinf430 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Check the newspaper and news archives. This didn't happen too long ago so it should be easy for you to find.
REMEMBER!!!!! GOOGLE IS YOUR FRIEND
2006-12-05 09:27:21 · answer #8 · answered by parsonsel 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Do your own homework.
2006-12-05 09:23:39 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋