Why is Pluto not a planet no more?

Answer 1

Because the definition of a planet (which was never really agreed on before) was made so that only bodies that are worthy can be called planets. Smaller objects, including Pluto and Eris (which is actually BIGGER than Pluto) got their own category. If Pluto was to be kept as a planet, then several dozen other bodies would have had to be added, with perhaps many more not yet discovered yet.
People should really stop having fits about that, the astronomers reclassify Pluto and it is as if someone got killed or something. It should be remembered it is only a NAME.

Answer 2

Lordy.

This question gets asked constantly. You guys really need to start running a search for old questions before asking.

Pluto was reclassified as not a planet because when you look at the data and ask yourself, 'Why is Pluto a planet and not Eris, or Eros, or any of the other Kuiper Belt objects besides Pluto?' the only answer you can come up with is.. there is no answer.

If Pluto were to remain on as a planet, we would have to reclassify *at the very least* a dozen other objects that we even know about. Infact, a last ditch attempt to save Pluto's planetary status was made to keep Pluto and include those other objects.

But these are just the ones we know about, how many more will we find in the next decade? There could easily be hundreds.

So, it was any old Tom, Dick or Harry stellar object would have to be a planet too, or we could just keep it simple and have just eight.

No one is asking you to call it by some kind of serial number. All sorts of things have been officialy named while other objects of the same type simply catelouged because no one cares to name them. There is the Milky Way and Andromeda Galaxys, and many, many more that are just called by NGC xxxx (numbers).

I am a Scorpio too and am well aware of Pluto's role in my astrological outlook. I even think astrology is interesting and supprisingly accurate, once you get past the crap you read in the paper and into the substance of it. However.. Astrology is psuedoscience and for psuedoscience to dictate the course of intellectual discovery is just silly.

Besides.. Astrologers will continue to count and use Pluto. In reality, astrology is blown wide open by this. Think about how many heavenly bodies can now be used in these calculations? Wouldn't several hundred objects wizzing around up there in concert with the phases of your life explain a lot more than just 9?

Just a thought.

Answer 3

Pluto is still planet in my eyes. I will still call it Pluto and not some inhuman serial number. They said it was too small and it's not really a planet because it has an eliptical orbit that intersects with Neptune's path. But does size really matter? Pluto will always be the ninth planet in our solar system. I'm a Scorpio I took it personally that Pluto "losted" it's planetary status. Since it's the ruling planet of Scorpio. Pluto Forever!

Answer 4

Pluto hasn't changed. Our knowldge about it has. Its smaller than we once thought. Its not even round. Language is the tool of the mind. Clear thought requires clear language. The astronomers needed to define the term "planet" to prevent any old stray lump of rock or ice from becoming the next planet, and the next and the next,...Eventually the term would have lost all of its meaning, so they defined it more specifically and that definition left Pluto out. Keep in mind ther are hundreds of planets, more being discovered every year (around other stars, of course).

Answer 5

Pluto was never really a planet. It is too small, has a very elliptical orbit, and is too unlike all the planets.

Answer 6

because it orbits the sun in an eplicytal shape. Whats is the difference what we call it - it is large enough to see with a telescope and it circles the sun. Its a planet.

Answer 7

because the meaning of planet was a temporary defenition anda the nasa pple changed the meaning of planet

Answer 8

because the International Astronomical Union are a bunch of haters.