Thursday, September 6, 2007
Pluto: Planet or Icecube?
So the song I learned in elementary school is bogus now that Pluto is no longer considered a planet, although it should be. Just because it doesn't follow a orbital path that doesn't cross another planet's doesn't make it a nonplanet. It has its own moon. I think the bigwigs who decided this were just trying to draw attention to thier field. Everyone I have talked to says that Pluto will named a planet when the astronomy community meets next. What do you think? Should it be renamed a planet.
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13 comments:
Please clarify. I haven't heard about this.
OK Earlier this year the bigwigs in the science community decided that because Pluto's orbit crosses Neptune's, it no longer is classified as a planet. Of course everyone is in complete disagreement. The IAU (bigwig astronomist's group) created a new catagory for pluto called dwarf planet. Its satus is still being battled over. Many speculate that when the IAU meet next year, Pluto will be bumped up to full planet status.
I think it should be reinstated as a planet. Having it not be one cause of it's path is just plain stupid. There might be somewhere out there one that has more qualities of a planet that Earth and still crosses paths with another.
I think it's kind of weird that all of a sudden they're like... "Just kidding! Pluto's not a planet anymore!" It doesn't really affect me much.. But I did think it was odd.
Ever since I was little pluto has been a planet and for it to be called a dwarf planet is crazy. I think the science community needs to obligate their time a little more better than just sitting around deciding if pluto should be a planet or not.
Liz is right... It is weird how we grew up learning that song and all of the sudden... "Sike!" Pluto should be renamed a planet. The planets just don't seem quite right without it.
lol Did y'all learn My Very Educated Mother Just Served Us Nine Pizzas to remember the order of the planets in school? What acronym are they going to use now?? :)
My very educated mother just served us nuggets.
I'm too old to remember how I learned about the planets. I do remember that Pluto was/is a planet.
It was a planet... Its no longer considered one :(
Can you image though how important this argument is to all of these scientists? If I had to guess, I'd say they're probably as passionate (and critical) about this issue as I am with how the PowerPoints are formatted in our department (LOL), but my job requires me to be critical. I just hope the time spent arguing about such things isn't costing us, the taxpayers, too much.
Pluto is a planet. How can they say, "Oops, we made a mistake, its not a planet" and then have plans to reinstate it a couple years later. I agree with someone who said that they did all this just to hype up the concern with the IAU. Ha, oh and did anyone hear about that Planet X crap they was all the hype like a year ago? Too much, back and forth, maybe / maybe not for me.
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