Should Pluto be reinstated as a planet?

[modest]

A rose by any other name... I vote no.

~modest

[Buffy]

I find Craig's argument specious insofar as very few people who want Pluto to be a planet would have a problem with our solar system having 15 or 20 planets as a result!

We do have a skewed statistical selection here of course: CNN's poll went 81% yes....

I know no method to secure the repeal of bad, obnoxious, or unjust laws so effective as their strict execution,
Buffy

[Boerseun]

Why the fuss, after all?

It might be that in all the inhabited solar systems in the galaxy, it's only those pesky Terrans who discriminate in such an arbitrary way.

The Glomeruans don't know what a "planet" is; such a description will make very little sense to them. They only have G'nautzers orbiting their star, and they range from dust-sized particles to one-tenth the size of their star.

There is no such thing as centrifugal force - there is only inertia. By the same token, there is no such thing as "planets". There's only bits of stuff following Kepler's Laws, widely ranging in size.

I am all for reinstating Pluto as a planet, but only if we can reclassify Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune as "failed stars".

Does a ball of rock qualify as a "planet" because it can gravitationally capture and hold a moon? No - a stapler and a paperclip in orbit around the sun will orbit each other, albeit very slowly, and thus qualify to be called a "planetary" system.

But it still screwed with my mnemonic.

[RCP/CRT/RRT]

I vote no, the International Astronomical Unions' new definition is logical IMO...

[Moontanman]

I think we need to gather up all the minor ice worlds and make a water planet, put it where Mars is and put Mars where Venus is, move Venus to the middle of what was the Asteroid belt (oh yea we need to move them too) Put Ceres in orbit around Mars and put Titan in orbit around Venus. We can move all the Whales to the new water world, we can call it Oceanus. Damn what was in the brownie anyway?

[RCP/CRT/RRT]

Originally Posted by Moontanman

I think we need to gather up all the minor ice worlds and make a water planet, put it where Mars is and put Mars where Venus is, move Venus to the middle of what was the Asteroid belt (oh yea we need to move them too) Put Ceres in orbit around Mars and put Titan in orbit around Venus. We can move all the Whales to the new water world, we can call it Oceanus. Damn what was in the brownie anyway?

Wow, that's very venturesome, but the point was? Planetary orbital mechanics? Or, simply how mind expanding it can be daydreaming while stoned?

[Theory5]

Whenever people have brought up the subject of pluto and if it is a planet or not, I just say that we will wait until New Horizons gets to pluto and it will solve the argument once and for all :-)

[freeztar]

Originally Posted by Theory5

Whenever people have brought up the subject of pluto and if it is a planet or not, I just say that we will wait until New Horizons gets to pluto and it will solve the argument once and for all :-)

Do you know when it's supposed to get to Pluto? It looks like it is almost to Uranus' orbit.



Source: Heavens-Above.com

[Theory5]

Given that New Horizons is roughly 14 AU away from the sun, I would say its probably between saturn and uranus right now because uranus is usually roughly 19 AU away from the sun.

[Moontanman]

Just exercising my sense of humor guys, (not to mention my imagination, if FTL is impossible we need to make other plans!) forgive me. I think Pluto is an example of a different class of planets just like Jupiter is an example of a giant planet, a class of planets different from the rocky inner planets. It seems a little disingenuous to claim Pluto is not a planet and then call it a dwarf "planet". Dwarf, rocky, giant, they are still planets. Personally I think Ceres (if it turns out to be differentiated into a core and mantle type set up) should at least be called a rocky dwarf planet if not a straight up rocky planet. Pluto should be an ice dwarf along with the other large bodies of mostly ices that inhabit the solar system but do not orbit other planets. I'm not sure what the size cut off should be but I think a planet should be more than a pile of rubble and spherical at the very least. What if we find an ice planet that is Earth mass in size? At that distance from the sun it could have a hydrogen/helium atmosphere, would that still be an "ice dwarf" ?