Is it or isn't it...?!

[deanm]

The debate continues: is Pluto a planet or not:
https://www.sciencealert.com/these-nasa-scientists-think-pluto-is-a-planet-and-here-s-why
Dean

[JA]

Oh come on ...... Bring the little guy back !!!:help::help::help:

Best
JA

[Wussell]

Ofcourse its a planet. It's like saying a dwarf is not a human being.

[julianh72]

According to the linked article:

"We are planetary scientists, meaning we've spent our careers exploring and studying objects that orbit stars. We use "planet" to describe worlds with certain qualities.
...
We find ourselves using the word planet to describe the largest "moons" in the Solar System."

If you're going to accept their "definition" of a "planet" in order to include Pluto, you're going to have to include the Moon, Ceres, Titan, ... - you can't logically just stop at nine planets. (When Ceres was first discovered, it was originally classified as a planet - where is the outrage over its "demotion"?)

Or, if you accept the International Astronomical Union's definitions for "planet", "dwarf planet", "satellite" and "small solar system body", then Pluto is one of at least five (but probably hundreds, or thousands!) of Dwarf Planets orbiting the Sun - there's no shame in that status.
https://www.iau.org/static/resolutions/Resolution_GA26-5-6.pdf

[deanm]

"It's like saying a dwarf is not a human being."

Nail...head..!
Dean

[Wavytone]

By the IAU definition our moon is a planet - strictly speaking it orbits the sun, not earth - it’s orbit is always concave toward the sun and never convex. It just happens it and earth share the same orbit and are in lockstep, wobbling a bit around a shared centre of mass.

[el_draco]

It is, always was and for ever more shall be a FRIGGIN PLANET and to hell with upperty egotists who want to grandstand!! :mad2::mad2:

[sil]

Its just not but to me it always will be. Its good to see astronomy finally ditching the conservative traditionalist views and getting things into precise order. Its something all other area of science need to do. Trees for example we have hundreds of duplicates in the list just because what one person "back home" called X they later named Y when they travelled to remote lands exploring and find what is genetically the same species, plus the locals in these places have their names too, so in the lists the same species can appear many times under different names. Just because. Minerals and rocks are the same, the fossil record too , lets set the standard by setting Standards to clean up our data so we have accurate pictures.

Whatever Pluto is classified as doesn't matter. It in no way degrades the accomplishment of getting a probe to it and the amazing questions it then raised. I don't think Pluto gives a toss.