Frankly, I'm more bothered by distinguishing terrestrials by whether or not the primary is undergoing significant fusion or not.

When we are children and we learn to recite the planets, we do not put the conditional "dwarf" in front of it. By putting the conditional in front of Pluto its status is diminished. That's what the big deal is, article writer. It's not Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and the dwarf planets Pluto, Ceres, Haumea, Eris and Makemake. They are two necessarily separate categories.

Anyway, I don't bother arguing, I simply count Pluto as a planet, with the same arbitrariness that the IAU used to demote it. Mine is that it had been a full-fledged planet since its discovery and so gets that consideration. What are they going to do, have me arrested for arbitrary astronomical heresy?

Pluto will always be a planet to me, and if any little whippersnapper tells me there are only 8 planets I will kick them sqa in the nuts.

There are not 9 planets.

There are 8.

Or there are hundreds.

Take your pick.

Planets aren't defined by size. They are defined by how dominant their gravitational influence is within their orbit. The planets all dominate their orbit. The dwarf planets (including Pluto) do not.

But if you want a definition of "if it's round and goes around the sun" to define planethood, then have fun memorizing the dozens and dozens of random things that fit that. Ceres (Large round object between Mars and Jupiter that got demoted a hundred years before Pluto did any nobody complained), Pallas, Hygiea, Interamnia, Vesta, Eris, Haumea, Makemake, Orcus, Ixion, Varuna, Quaoar, Sedna, and a few dozen that haven't been given a real name yet.

Walker: Pluto will always be a planet to me, and if any little whippersnapper tells me there are only 8 planets I will kick them sqa in the nuts.

Indeed.

Also, you should find the dumbass teacher that taught the kid there were only 8 planets, and beat him with a sock full of nickels.

IT'S STILL A PLANET TO ME, DAMMIT!

One of my favorite grennlights (new window)

ThatGuyGreg: There are not 9 planets.

There are 8.

Or there are hundreds.

Take your pick.

Or we could pick "There are 9 planets and if you don't like it STFU and get off my lawn!".

VE in a Pluto thread? :/

For you social science/psychology people out there, is this topic a good example of comparing those who are afraid of change vs those who are not?

Kome, this might be in your field.

/Voting enabled? Why?

It is NOT a planet. I know because the cute asian teacher in the Target commercial used scissors to snip Pluto out of the diorama. Link (new window)


/sooo much glitter!

hasty ambush: Surly U. Jest: How about we visit Pluto.

Orbiter is a free and realistic space flight simulation program for the Windows PC. (new window)

[orbit.medphys.ucl.ac.uk image 640x480]

[orbit.medphys.ucl.ac.uk image 640x480]

[orbit.medphys.ucl.ac.uk image 640x480]

Cool! That's a bookmark for when I get home.

Yes it is. Pluto is a dwarf planet.

Is the descriptor 'dwarf' throwing people off?

I see what you did there.

Mother very thoughtfully made a jam sandwich using no peanuts, mayonnaise, glue.

Hail Eris!

Why are people so defensive of it's planet status? I mean seriously, as planets go it'd be a shiat one. If Jupiter was demoted that'd be cause for everyone to say "HEY!!!" but Pluto? It was the worst planet I'd ever seen. What is the appeal? Is it because it's seen as some kind of underdog? Or is it simply because it has a name like a cartoon dog? Either way I'm baffled by the apparent strength of feeling it raises, with strange people using quite forceful language. I know it's tongue in cheek, but it's still based upon an underlying truth.

At least I hope it's tongue in cheek, I hadn't thought about it, I just assumed it was.

Slaxl: Why are people so defensive of it's planet status? I mean seriously, as planets go it'd be a shiat one. If Jupiter was demoted that'd be cause for everyone to say "HEY!!!" but Pluto? It was the worst planet I'd ever seen. What is the appeal? Is it because it's seen as some kind of underdog? Or is it simply because it has a name like a cartoon dog? Either way I'm baffled by the apparent strength of feeling it raises, with strange people using quite forceful language. I know it's tongue in cheek, but it's still based upon an underlying truth.

At least I hope it's tongue in cheek, I hadn't thought about it, I just assumed it was.

Pluto, before being a dogs dog was the God of the underworld, to have the representative of such an important deity so completely dis'd, now twice, with the whole dwarf thing is not cool...
Verger on the other hand out in the abyss still has Pluto as a planet carved into it's ID panel...
So at least we have that.
When the aliens find it and can't figure out where it came from because we had the whole system so completely wrong and probably still do, why the hell would any of them even want to make first contact?