2007-12-01 12:07:40 · 17 answers · asked by Anonymous in Science & Mathematics ➔ Astronomy & Space
But, soft! what light through yonder window breaks?
It is the east, and Juliet is the sun.
Arise, fair sun, and kill the envious moon,
Who is already sick and pale with grief,
What's Pluto? it is nor big, nor bright
Nor planet, nor moon...
O, be some other name!
What's in a name? that which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet.
So Pluto would, were he not Dwarf Planet call'd,
Retain that dear perfection which he owes
Without that title.
2007-12-01 13:08:24 · answer #1 · answered by @lec 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Poor little Pluto will always be a planet, deep down in that special place in my heart, but I'm afraid that its days of official planethood are over. The International Astronomical Union has redefined the word 'planet', and the new definition rules out cold, lonely Pluto as a full-fledged planet, so it's only a dwarf planet now.
2007-12-02 00:13:08 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Pluto is now a dwarf planet.
When discovered, Pluto was thought to be large and massive, responsible for perturbation in Neptune's orbit (the perturbations were the trigger for the search for a new planet).
However, very soon after its discovery, it was noted that Pluto was smaller and much less massive than predicted. Every time that it was possible to improve our knowledge of it, it seemed smaller and less massive.
It is now known to be less massive than our Moon.
Also, we are now discovering a lot more similar objects in similar orbits (Trans-Neptunian Objects)
The same thing had happened back in the 1850s.
In the first decade of the 1800s four planets had been discovered between Mars and Jupiter: Ceres, Pallas, Juno and Vesta. As long as they were the only ones, people were happy, even though they were much smaller than what we'd expect for planets.
Then in the 1850s (with better telescopes) a whole bunch more were discovered in the same area.
Ceres, Pallas, Juno and Vesta were demoted and became the first "minor planets". All the new planetoids discovered since then, in that general area, became minor planets. Many of them were asteroids (because they looked like stars in a telescope; 'real' planets showed a disk).
When the new category of dwarf planets was created, Ceres was promoted from minor to dwarf.
The word asteroid is now reserved for planetoids within Jupiter's orbit (e.g., the asteroid belt).
2007-12-01 20:33:22 · answer #3 · answered by Raymond 7 · 3⤊ 0⤋
No. It's not. Astronomers just found this close object that was considered a dwarf planet, so they said since Pluto is smaller, we'll make that a dwarf planet as well. So no.
2007-12-04 18:49:36 · answer #4 · answered by - 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Pluto is now officially a dwarf planet.
2007-12-01 20:14:33 · answer #5 · answered by Joan H 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
No
poor pluto!
2007-12-01 22:54:52 · answer #6 · answered by 22 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
No, it's officially a 'dwarf' planet as determined by the International Astronomical Union
2007-12-01 20:35:34 · answer #7 · answered by Chug-a-Lug 7 · 2⤊ 0⤋
no pluto is not a planet anymore.
2007-12-01 23:43:13 · answer #8 · answered by vish 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
They say it's an asteroid but im my opinion, I think its still a planet. Why would they say it wasn't a planet NOW? All the kids are confusued all because this. Make a difference people!
2007-12-04 20:31:45 · answer #9 · answered by **HaRleY** 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Pluto will ALWAYS be a planet
2007-12-01 20:19:42 · answer #10 · answered by electric 3 · 0⤊ 2⤋