Pluto Loses Its Status As A Planet

[Dcontrol]

Just in case people didn't see the news the other day Pluto has been now labelled in the category of a "dwarf" planet. Full story on the link below.

http://images3.pictiger.com/thumbs/40/33e746dd157cb438b3fe81f1c7d56040.th.jpg (http://server3.pictiger.com/img/496726/picture-hosting/pluto-090.php)

Taken from the link below

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/5282440.stm

The scientists agreed that for a celestial body to qualify as a planet:

it must be in orbit around the Sun
it must be large enough that it takes on a nearly round shape
it has cleared its orbit of other objectsPluto was automatically disqualified because its highly elliptical orbit overlaps with that of Neptune. It will now join a new category of dwarf planets.

So our Solar System now looks like this

http://img246.imageshack.us/img246/9171/42012422solarsystemplanets3416uv8.jpg

And I'll get it in before anyone else mentions that they thought Pluto was a dog. We are not on about him!
http://images5.pictiger.com/thumbs/50/41136b54059ebf12bf29471d55c92750.th.jpg (http://www.pictiger.com/)

[HotFish]

It's still a planet to me..named after old mythological? Gods. Most scientists dont know there bum from there elbow - yet spend millions of money wasting their times really. I mean come on - these planets were discovered years ago using far weaker technology.

Europa - Jupiters largest and one of its many moon's is just as large as the Earth - so why isint that a planet then? Then there is Saturn's Titan..the list could go on

Cya

[phatmuther]

everyone is still gonna call it a planet
its like those extra moons around earth, no one cares about em, we've only got one moon

[Raisedbyflames]

because they are classed as satillites an object in the obert of a planet

[Fleeboi]

Europa - Jupiters largest and one of its many moon's is just as large as the Earth - so why isint that a planet then? Then there is Saturn's Titan..the list could go on

Cya


It must be in orbit around the Sun


There's also a dwarf planet behind Pluto that's bigger than Pluto itself.

[Blaze Lord]

...Yeah, that was a rather strange rant, lens. Anti-scientist? That's a weird angle to play.

[damien©]

Not before time anyway.... it was alongtime coming!

It doesn't have the correct specifications that make a planet a planet so why should we still continue to call it one, we shouldn't that's why it's been changed.

Also the rant about size's of Jupiter's moons is pointless, as there orbit is not around Sun.

[Blaze Lord]

Actually, I've been doing some research. Apparently this was out of an attempt to make Ceres (a pretty large, comparatively, body in the asteroid belt) or Xena (the thing way past Pluto) into recognized planets. The governing body of astronomers understood the merits behind the Ceres argument, but couldn't bring themselves to call it a full blown planet. So just a few weeks ago, they come up with the term dwarf planet for Ceres and Xena, and discover that Pluto fits it. So now Pluto's a dwarf.

Of course, there are some pointing out that technically, we now have to start considering if Earth is a dwarf planet too.

[Steve]

It is going to be put into its own class called Plutopian objects. This is great news for schools..now childeren's textbooks have to be updated. :)

I had to deal with textbooks from 1990 when I was a young one.

[Blaze Lord]

Plutopian objects? Where'd you pull this one from?

[D4VY]

ah well its still a planet to me. :)

[damien©]

You know this is going to be a General Knowledge Question now on those game shows?

"How many Planets in the Solar System?"

[Dcontrol]

You know this is going to be a General Knowledge Question now on those game shows?

"How many Planets in the Solar System?"

Yeah I'm expecting it to crop up in the pub quiz on mondays sometime. So we have left then (in no particular order) Mercury, Mars, Earth, Venus, Saturn, Jupiter, Neptune and Uranus. I checked some internet sites and they still have it listed as nine planets in our solar system.

[Steve]

That is what I think it is called Blaze, I saw it in the newspaper. Newsday printed a whole long article about it...err I believe you get Newsday. Take a look.

[WACCOE]

I can see it now...hundreds of millions of text books ALL been re-written around now.

HAHA.

[derekm91]

if i were pluto id be . thats really stupid. its been a planet for so long. y change it?

[derekm91]

y does it blank out (Because thats what the word filter does :))

Dcontrol says - And don't be so lazy use the word why and not y! it confuses some people.

[Blaze Lord]

Term's dwarf planet afaik, Steve. Plutopian object seems more like.. an object near/around Pluto, not an object of which Pluto exemplifies.

[Dcontrol]

Term's dwarf planet afaik, Steve. Plutopian object seems more like.. an object near/around Pluto, not an object of which Pluto exemplifies.

Perhaps he meant Plutonian BL that is a word I just checked it on a dictionary site it means.........

1. Of or relating to the god Pluto or the underworld; infernal.
2. Of or relating to the planet Pluto.

[Blaze Lord]

Either way, I'm 99% sure it is not the official term being used by the international governing organization.

[Dcontrol]

I've updated the first post with a picture which shows our Solar System as it is now with these new changes in place (Y)

[Fleeboi]

Charon is also being considered to be called a planet now, initially, it was classified as a satalite of Pluto, only, it is bigger than Pluto, and rather than orbiting Pluto, they sort of orbit eachother (they are always facing eachother).

More information can be found here:

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20060821024640AA2uHeU

They spelt it Cheron first off, which I think it's a mistake, meh.

[damien©]

I've updated the first post with a picture which shows our Solar System as it is now with these new changes in place (Y)

Technically the only change is the "name types" the Solar System has always been like for thousands of years, were only realising it now thou.

[Blaze Lord]

...Did you just post to say that the solar system itself hasn't changed?