Bring back the 9th planet.

[Doc]

I don't know if any of you guys care but Pluto hasn't been classed as a planet since 2006, I've been looking into why recently and I found out that a planet is described as a celestial body that (a) is in orbit around a sun/star (b) has sufficient mass for its self-gravity to overcome rigid body forces so that it assumes a hydrostatic equilibrium shape, and © has cleared its own orbit of other bodies. Apparently it fails © because it has things of similar mass in its orbit and is now only classed as a dwarf planet. But Earth (you know that thing we live on that is more than 6000 years old.... some people will get what I'm saying there) also has things in its orbit and they don't call it a dwarf planet and so does Uranus, there is now much discussion about whether or not it should be reclassified as a planet and whether we should redefine what actually classifies things as a planet.

Instead of there being 9 planets like we all used to think, there are now only 8 planets and 4 dwarf planets that orbit our sun, but isn't saying "its not a planet its a dwarf planet" just like saying "its not a dog its a poodle".

Various sites say various things so this information may not be 100% accurate, if this interests you then google it.

Personally i believe we should just say that there are actually 12 planets that orbit the sun regardless of some only having "dwarf" status.

What do you think?

I'll make a poll just for the sake of it.

(thats the most off topic thing i could think of right now that interests me)

[PokeDaemon]

You should understand that important people in the scientific world discuss the definition of a planet each year and decide what is and what is not a planet. The reason Earth and Uranus are not considered dwarf planets is because the thing orbiting them is not of similar mass, it is just a satellite.

There has to be distinction so that we can differentiate between the two celestial bodies. Scientists made the word Dwarf Planet pretty much specifically for Pluto. I suppose scientists believe that Pluto just does not fit in with the cool kids, or Planets, it is a Dwarf Planet. So Pluto is a loser.

[Doc]

ok but i read on some site that its not what orbits the planets themselves its what lies in its orbit around the sun, for instance pluto is actually in uranus' orbit so uranus hasnt been able to clear its own orbit of all other bodies and therefore should also be classified as a dwarf, i dont know if this means their collision is imminent or whatever but it still remains a normal planet.

again i dont know if this is 100% reliable information, maybe i should look into it a bit more.

[Greencat]

Earth doesn't have anything in it's orbit. It's Earth alone. Pluto has thousands (if not more) of pieces of ice and astroids going around with it. It's orbit is also off the normal plain and very abnormal. It's like bringing up the debate of whether the two dwarf planets between Mars and Jupiter should be classed as normal planets.

BTW, it just sounds weird saying the world is "over 6,000 years old". It's about 4 billion years old. It's like saying "My house cost me over 25 cents!". :\

[PokeDaemon]

Earth doesn't have anything in it's orbit. It's Earth alone. Pluto has thousands (if not more) of pieces of ice and astroids going around with it. It's orbit is also off the normal plain and very abnormal. It's like bringing up the debate of whether the two dwarf planets between Mars and Jupiter should be classed as normal planets.

BTW, it just sounds weird saying the world is "over 6,000 years old". It's about 4 billion years old. It's like saying "My house cost me over 25 cents!". :\

I believe he was referencing the Bible. And the way it was written suggests to me that he was joking.

By the way, does the Moon not orbit around the Sun with Earth? If something is orbiting around something then that would also be in the orbit of Earth. Or is it that there are things that actually are in trail that Pluto takes around the Sun, but is not actually connected to Pluto at all?

As for the Uranus to Pluto thing, that same problem occurs with Neptune. And I am pretty sure that is actually Pluto's fault, not the other two planets. That is like kicking two people out of a clique because some weird kid wants to play with them.

[Okami]

I believe he was referencing the Bible. And the way it was written suggests to me that he was joking.

By the way, does the Moon not orbit around the Sun with Earth? If something is orbiting around something then that would also be in the orbit of Earth. Or is it that there are things that actually are in trail that Pluto takes around the Sun, but is not actually connected to Pluto at all?

As for the Uranus to Pluto thing, that same problem occurs with Neptune. And I am pretty sure that is actually Pluto's fault, not the other two planets. That is like kicking two people out of a clique because some weird kid wants to play with them.

Not trying to start a debate here...just wanting to pass along some information I got in my Civ and Lit classes. That it's only been about 6,000 years since the Flood. (We did a full timeline from Noah's line and on) Evidence that has been dug up of cultures previous to our own only go back to about 6,000 years....but that allows us to speculate over how much time was prior to the Flood here on earth. So it could be any number of billions of years beforehand; we can't really know for sure.

Anyways, I really do miss Pluto as being a planet. All of our childhood memory devices for planet learning were destroyed with Pluto gone. Argh.

[Doc]

interesting stuff and yes it was kind of a joke about the bible, im not anti-christian i just think all religion is a load rubbish but lets not get into that (religious people are so stubborn about their beliefs)

anyway i found a good site that pretty much tells you all you need to know about this issue, it also states that other things could hit into pluto, increasing its mass so who knows, maybe it will one day gain enough mass to be able to fully clear its orbit around the sun and finally become a real planet.

http://www.universetoday.com/2008/04/10/why-pluto-is-no-longer-a-planet/

[wraith89]

I believe the Earth is around 6000 years old =|

Anyways, to return to the topic, back when I was a kid, I learned Pluto was a planet... and now all of a sudden it isn't. The only thing that's cool about Pluto not being a planet now is that it makes Gustav Holst's Suite complete (there was none that was dedicated to Pluto). But in all seriousness, I still think Pluto is a planet. Yeah, sure, the size is abnormally small, the orbit is abnormal, but to me it will always be a planet =)

By the way, what classifies something as a planet? I hope it is not size or whatever. If I remember correctly, it was a planet because when they first discovered Pluto they saw Pluto along with its moon Charon, making Pluto appear larger than it actually is.

[Greencat]

By the way, does the Moon not orbit around the Sun with Earth?

Correct, the moon does not orbit the Sun. If the Moon was orbiting the Sun, it wouldn't be going around us every ~28 days. :\

And should we consider all the other rejects planets too then?

Edited November 13, 2009 by Greencat

[damio]

Correct, the moon does not orbit the Sun. If the Moon was orbiting the Sun, it wouldn't be going around us every ~28 days. :\

And should we consider all the other rejects planets too then?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dwarf_planet

I can't be bothered arguing right now, but I just wanted to state something.

Do not use wikipedia as a source. It is not reliable. Use the external links instead, as they are (slightly) more trustworthy.

[SCV]

Here is an interesting read.

http://www.nasa.gov/worldbook/pluto_worldbook.html

The decision on whether or not it should be considered a planet was primarily based on whether it stood out from the various other objects in the Kuipler Belt. If its similar in size to alot of those then its a decision of whether it should be stripped of the planet status or if all the others should be given planet status.

Also calling it a dwarf planet is irrelevant to how close it is to being a planet. I think the decision on its name was based on them still wanting it to have the word planet in its label.

Would it had made people feel better if they just called it something else and not Drawf Planet? e.g., Pluto is no longer a planet, it is now simply a Kuiper Belt object!

P.S. damio is right about wikipedia. Don't use it.

[Mewtwo Ex]

Before about 14 years, i red in astronomy lesson books that it was a planet. Since then on i have always considered it as a planet. I simply am not able to think otherwise.

[arceus dude]

Pluto was classified as a dwarf plant in 2006 because it is too far from the sun.

Its not part of our solar system anymore.

Also,some big part of it got destroyed.

I think that it should be kept as a dwarf planet.

[xorhash]

"Reclassify it as a plant."

Yep, it's a plant alright. With Chlorophyll and stuff.

[Relyte]

Pluto was classified as a dwarf plant in 2006 because it is too far from the sun.

Its not part of our solar system anymore.

Also,some big part of it got destroyed.

I think that it should be kept as a dwarf planet.

Actually, it got classified as a dwarf planet because it hadn't entirely cleared its orbit, which is one of the criteria for being a planet. And it is still part of our solar system; there are even further bodies (notably the Oort Cloud) which are still considered part of the solar system.

[evandixon]

© has cleared its own orbit of other bodies.

I don't like that they did this.

Before, if it orbited the sun, it was a planet.

This makes me think of how they are trying to re-define marraige to allow homosexuals to marry, but I'm not going to go there...

[Enzo]

No. No, we should not change the classification. What reason is there to do that? You have sentimental feelings for what used to be known as the nine rock, but you seem to be aware of the other "Dwarf" planets before and after Pluto. If we were to classify those rocks as planets, too, it would be chaos. It's best to put them into a sub classification since they haven't cleared their orbit.

It also makes more sense this way to laymen, considering that the eight standard planets have orbits consistent with each other whereas most (all?) of the dwarfs have orbits that are highly elliptical and on a slant compared to the eight standards.

Just don't worry about it, Doc. You're bothered over nothing. Pluto being a dwarf planet is not a big deal, we just got more precise with our celestial standards.