Should Pluto be a Planet?

[Tlaceceyaya]

Because... you want scientists to have to waste their time explaining what they mean when they say planet, because there would suddenly be no word for a planet which had cleared its neighbourhood?

There never was before 2006. Did they have real trouble then?

No, because they hadn't discovered many things which had not cleared their neighbourhoods.

[Dakini]

If Pluto isn't a planet, then neither is Jupiter. Why? Because 2M1207b, that's why.

Because there's a planetary mass object orbiting a brown dwarf?

Jupiter is a sub-brown dwarf and/or a planetar.

Somewhat iffy claims since neither of these are well-defined or agreed upon definitions.

Additionally, I would challenge Mercury's status as well, seeing as how both Ganymede and Titan (moons/satellites, not planets) are larger than it, and I request evidence that Mercury is responsible for clearing its orbit, and not, in fact, the Sun.

If the Sun was in Mercury's orbit, there would be no Mercury any more.

[Dakini]

lol. You know what I do for a living, right?

Well yes.....hence - viewtopic.php?p=15369505#p15369505

Haha.

I'm sorry, it's been a long day (/week/month/year) of thesis.

Totally.

Hehe. At least you admit it.

[Dakini]

Fair enough.

No, not "fair enough". There wasn't a time when entomologists called beetles ants and then suddenly found a shitload of them, so they said "hey, there's too many of these, let's call them 'beetles' instead!" God I hate that reasoning so much. It's horrible, simply horrible. Again, if Pluto isn't a planet, then neither is Jupiter or Mercury.

...because "reasons"?

Also, the reasoning wasn't that "oh, there are way too many of these" it's because "oh hey, this thing we've been calling X has properties that are way more similar to these new things which are definitely not X than it is like X, we should probably not call it X any more since it and these new things all seem to be Y" which I'm pretty sure has happened (more than once) with biological classification.

[The Imperial Republic of New Kyoto]

On a related topic, names were chosen for the 4th and 5th moons of this Dwarf planet that is (according to the IAU) not a planet. The IAU allowed the public a vote then decided after the vote that they could not accept the 1st place winning name choice (Vulcan). If Vulcan was going to be unacceptable, it should have been struck from the ballot before the vote.

[Fartsniffage]

Hehe. At least you admit it.

Yep. And like I said earlier in this thread, what does it matter what I think? I don't work in astronomy, astro-physics or teaching.

I just like the idea of Pluto being a planet. All on it's own, miles out there with an eccentric orbit just planeting along with no friends.

[Dakini]

Hehe. At least you admit it.

Yep. And like I said earlier in this thread, what does it matter what I think? I don't work in astronomy, astro-physics or teaching.

I just like the idea of Pluto being a planet. All on it's own, miles out there with an eccentric orbit just planeting along with no friends.

The thing is, it has lots of friends (I mean, it has like, 5 natural satellites and a giant pile of debris just like it).

[Fartsniffage]

On a related topic, names were chosen for the 4th and 5th moons of this Dwarf planet that is (according to the IAU) not a planet. The IAU allowed the public a vote then decided after the vote that they could not accept the 1st place winning name choice (Vulcan). If Vulcan was going to be unacceptable, it should have been struck from the ballot before the vote.

Well that's because it'd just get confusing when the Vulcans contacted us in 2063.

[The Imperial Republic of New Kyoto]

I hope they don't get upset when the IAU tries to define their solar system for them.

[Fartsniffage]

Yep. And like I said earlier in this thread, what does it matter what I think? I don't work in astronomy, astro-physics or teaching.

I just like the idea of Pluto being a planet. All on it's own, miles out there with an eccentric orbit just planeting along with no friends.

The thing is, it has lots of friends (I mean, it has like, 5 natural satellites and a giant pile of debris just like it).

5 moons? We only got one and we're a planet. You space type bods should sort this shit out.

[Tetryx]

No. It's a dwarf planet. If we classify it as a planet, we would have to classify all of the dwarf planets as planets, and then we'd lose that useful classification.

Thank you, now tell these fanboys and fangirls that this isn't Justin Bieber and we are not sure of his sexuality at this moment...forget the last part though.

[Luveria]

Yes so astrology can be right.

I mean no, if it's not a planet then it's not a planet.

[Dakini]

The thing is, it has lots of friends (I mean, it has like, 5 natural satellites and a giant pile of debris just like it).

5 moons? We only got one and we're a planet. You space type bods should sort this shit out.

Meh, I'm not an IAU member (hell, a few years ago my supervisor wasn't, he might be now) so I don't get to vote on shit.

Also, it's probably easy for Pluto to pick up all the moons when it lives in a debris field. I mean, Mars got its moons by robbing from the asteroid belt because it felt lonely. It can't even get them both to move in the right direction so one of them will smash right into the surface like a space probe built by people with poor unit conversion abilities.

[Tetryx]

Yep. And like I said earlier in this thread, what does it matter what I think? I don't work in astronomy, astro-physics or teaching.

I just like the idea of Pluto being a planet. All on it's own, miles out there with an eccentric orbit just planeting along with no friends.

The thing is, it has lots of friends (I mean, it has like, 5 natural satellites and a giant pile of debris just like it).

...True, but the satellites are usually 5 through 20 miles long...so, uhm...way smaller than our moon combined >.>' They're tiny as hell...

[Metal Harbor]

For nostalgic purposes, maybe it should be a "planet" considering it has been classified as a planet for such a long time but practically, I guess I'm gonna have to get used to there being only 8 planets in out solar system.

[Dakini]

Yes so astrology can be right.

Astrology is never going to be right anyway.

[Tetryx]

5 moons? We only got one and we're a planet. You space type bods should sort this shit out.

Meh, I'm not an IAU member (hell, a few years ago my supervisor wasn't, he might be now) so I don't get to vote on shit.

Also, it's probably easy for Pluto to pick up all the moons when it lives in a debris field. I mean, Mars got its moons by robbing from the asteroid belt because it felt lonely. It can't even get them both to move in the right direction so one of them will smash right into the surface like a space probe built by people with poor unit conversion abilities.

A giant space probe that kills all life on Earth...wait...I mean Mars! ^-^ Or not, which one do you think is more likely to get hit by a giant space probe BEFORE gravity shit messes with the tidal waves...

[Tetryx]

Yes so astrology can be right.

Astrology is never going to be right anyway.

I think they mean Astronomy...hopefully.

[Dakini]

The thing is, it has lots of friends (I mean, it has like, 5 natural satellites and a giant pile of debris just like it).

...True, but the satellites are usually 5 through 20 miles long...so, uhm...way smaller than our moon combined >.>' They're tiny as hell...

Indeed. Like I said, it went debris disk shopping.

And yeah, I don't even think that Pluto + Charon + all of its other moons are Moon-massed.

[Dazchan]

If Pluto isn't a planet, then neither is Jupiter. Why? Because 2M1207b, that's why.

Because there's a bigger object outside of the solar system?

Jupiter is a sub-brown dwarf and/or a planetar.

Neither of your sources state this. Do you have one that does?

Additionally, I would challenge Mercury's status as well, seeing as how both Ganymede and Titan (moons/satellites, not planets) are larger than it...

Irrelevant statement is irrelevant.

[New Sapienta]

I think I'll take the guy's with PHD's words for it,

[Tetryx]

I think I'll take the guy's with PHD's words for it,

Nuuuu, you have to listen to the ignorant masses...SHUT UP!

Thank you!

[Fartsniffage]

Meh, I'm not an IAU member (hell, a few years ago my supervisor wasn't, he might be now) so I don't get to vote on shit.

Hah, so it's not a real consensus. Us pro-Pluto people have a chance yet.

Also, it's probably easy for Pluto to pick up all the moons when it lives in a debris field. I mean, Mars got its moons by robbing from the asteroid belt because it felt lonely. It can't even get them both to move in the right direction so one of them will smash right into the surface like a space probe built by people with poor unit conversion abilities.

Now this I really find interesting. Which one is going to mess Mars up and what kind of timescale are we talking?

[Tetryx]

If Pluto isn't a planet, then neither is Jupiter. Why? Because 2M1207b, that's why.

Because there's a bigger object outside of the solar system?

Jupiter is a sub-brown dwarf and/or a planetar.

Neither of your sources state this. Do you have one that does?

Additionally, I would challenge Mercury's status as well, seeing as how both Ganymede and Titan (moons/satellites, not planets) are larger than it...

Irrelevant statement is irrelevant.

Arcturus is confused, I think we need to update to Arcturus V.

[Dakini]

Meh, I'm not an IAU member (hell, a few years ago my supervisor wasn't, he might be now) so I don't get to vote on shit.

Also, it's probably easy for Pluto to pick up all the moons when it lives in a debris field. I mean, Mars got its moons by robbing from the asteroid belt because it felt lonely. It can't even get them both to move in the right direction so one of them will smash right into the surface like a space probe built by people with poor unit conversion abilities.

A giant space probe that kills all life on Earth...wait...I mean Mars! ^-^ Or not, which one do you think is more likely to get hit by a giant space probe BEFORE gravity shit messes with the tidal waves...

Hmm? I was just referring to Phobos and its inability to exist in a stable orbit. Though I was wrong about the retrograde motion (I got mixed up with Triton); Phobos just orbits faster than Mars rotates and apparently it gets pulled apart into a ring system instead of smashing into Mars (then Earth will be super jealous).