Pluto: Ex-Planet

[bigjohnson4]

If you're interested in Space at all, you know that Pluto is no longer considered a Planet in the US. Although, there are some people that still believe that Pluto is as significate to our solar system as Earth is.

Is it easier just to say it's a planet rather than not? What difference does it make? It has all the same characteristics of the other main planets in our solar system, but it's somehow different?

If you do like Space and planets and reading about things of that sort, you have got to get this book: The Pluto Files | csmonitor.com (http://features.csmonitor.com/books/2009/01/27/the-pluto-files/)

The author was featured on the Daily Show with Jon Stewart, and he made some amazing comments on it.

Check it out if you're interested. Oh and just a fun fact, the state of New Mexico, where Pluto was originally found (actually found in Arizona but the founder lived in New Mexico) still considers it to be a planet.

Do you think Pluto should be considered a planet?

[[Nazzeth]]

By that Logic Earth is a Moon



A natural satellite or moon is a celestial body that orbits a planet or smaller body, which is called the primary. Technically, the term natural satellite could refer to a planet orbiting a star, or a dwarf galaxy orbiting a major galaxy, but it is normally synonymous with moon and used to identify non-artificial satellites of planets, dwarf planets, and minor planets.




Pluto has 3 moons Orbiting it Thus it is classified as a minor planet

Your theory is bust.


Pluto (pronounced en-us-Pluto.ogg /ˈpluːtoʊ/ (help·info), from Latin: Plūto, Greek: Πλούτων), formal designation (134340) Pluto, is the second-largest known dwarf planet in the Solar System (after Eris) and the tenth-largest body observed directly orbiting the Sun. Originally classified as a planet, Pluto is now considered the largest member of a distinct population called the Kuiper belt.

Like other members of the Kuiper belt, Pluto is composed primarily of rock and ice and is relatively small: approximately a fifth the mass of the Earth's Moon and a third its volume. It has a highly eccentric and highly inclined orbit.

Pluto's eccentricity takes it from 30 to 49 AU (4.4–7.4 billion km) from the Sun, causing Pluto to occasionally come closer to the Sun than Neptune. Pluto and its largest moon, Charon, are often treated together as a binary system because the barycentre of their orbits does not lie within either body. The International Astronomical Union (IAU) has yet to formalise a definition for binary dwarf planets, and until it passes such a ruling, Charon is classified as a moon of Pluto. Pluto has two known smaller moons, Nix and Hydra, discovered in 2005.

From its discovery in 1930 until 2006, Pluto was considered the Solar System's ninth planet. In the late 20th and early 21st centuries, however, many objects similar to Pluto were discovered in the outer solar system, notably the scattered disc object Eris, which is 27% more massive than Pluto. On August 24, 2006, the IAU defined the term "planet" for the first time. This definition excluded Pluto, which the IAU reclassified as a member of the new category of dwarf planets along with Eris and Ceres. After the reclassification, Pluto was added to the list of minor planets and given the number 134340. A number of scientists continue to suggest that Pluto should be reclassified as a planet.