OO[R]T: Did Pluto's Performance Justify Re-eval Of Its Elite Status?
TO TRANSLATE FOR NON-SCIENTIFICALLY INCLINED SPORTS FANS: There was this player. He was for a while thought to be among the ELITE, one of the very very best. But then some folks were like, ehhh, he doesn't look like all the other Elites, he doesn't play in nearly the same league, his game is different. But the scales decidedly tipped when we found this other guy in his same league, who we thought was just as good or a bit better, and so we don't want to open the floodgates to everyone being elite, so we'll reclassifiy [read: demote] this guy as "dwarf elite.". Take a star away, right, you were just a four-star all along.
That's Pluto, right. Just a dwarf planet. Not one of the big boys. Not a planet. Orbit is way out of the planetary plane, shape of orbit is unnatural (dips inside Neptune's orbit), and then we discovered Eres in the Kuiper Belt which appeared to be bigger than Pluto, and we are sure there are lots more of them in the KB, so either we have dozens of planets or we just say Pluto and Eres aren't planets. We make up a new definition of dwarf planet, and it turns out not only are Pluto and Eres dwarf planets, but the largest asteroid Ceres (not a KBO) also meets that definition. And now we have only 8 planets and we're all set.
BUT: Then we saw the guy in a game up close, and we should all be like, dude, he's elite.
Did seeing that photo of Pluto from a couple days ago change anyone's mind? It did mine. It's a planet. I'm not sure how to define it, but I know one when I see one, and Pluto looks like a planet. Compare how it looks to Ceres (one of the other three dwarf planets). Ceres looks like a big asteroid, a huge rock, which it is. Pluto looks like a planet. Period.
Who's with me?
[And yes, I know the title is in error, it's in the Kuiper Belt, not the Oort cloud, but I was typing OOT and just couldn't resist.]
I read somewhere where tectonic plate shifting was probable, so how could it not be a planet at this point. Welcome back Pluto.
Blutto is not a dog or a planet, but apparently he was pre-Mongo
Someone who look elite isn't always elite.
Case in point: Tony Mandarich
Maybe Pluto should take steriods too.
has 9 Planets
10 if you count Charlie Weis
only if this gets me to football season quicker, If not then I don't care
If a man and a man (or a woman and a woman) can marry then why can't Pluto be a planet?
So is Neptune Pluto's little brother?
- Size
- Pad level
- Does not clear the neighborhood
Sounds to me like Neptune dips into Pluto's orbit
Michael Scott that's what she something something...
I thought Neptune dipped into Uranus'.
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Yes, we will have to send a crack team of Brazilians to eliminate the Klingon threat, this is no job for young academy Bidets fresh out of school.
As a veteran of biological nomenclature battles, I can tell you that the organizational category of a specimen is the least interesting question one can ask unless it reflects something real about its origin. The Pluto debate almost never does this. Whether it has interesting geology or whether its diameter is very slightly larger than Eris' has no bearing on whether Pluto is a planet.
On the other hand, taxonomic nomenclature has been almost completely revamped as biologists have learned more and more about the diversity of extant and extinct life -- it now seeks to describe the phylogeny of life (patterns of evolutionary descent), rather than simple similarity. Astronomical nomenclature could definitely use a similar update so that it reflects something real.
The Pluto-planet debate can't be interesting until the IAU creates a useful definition of a planet. Until then, the whole debate is just emotional baggage on both sides, with one side uncomfortable that their nursery rhymes need updating and the other side uncomfortable at the prospect of having only explored a tiny fraction of the worlds in our solar system and needing to bring all the KBOs like Pluto down a notch.
On the other hand, taxonomic nomenclature has been almost completely revamped as biologists have learned more and more about the diversity of extant and extinct life -- it now seeks to describe the phylogeny of life (patterns of evolutionary descent), rather than simple similarity. Astronomical nomenclature could definitely use a similar update so that it reflects something real.
Since the axis of Pluto's orbit is not within it, it is a best a drunk planet. If it quits drinking, maybe we can call it a planet again. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Pluto-Charon_System.gif#/media/…
"Pluto-Charon System" by Stephanie Hoover - Own work. Licensed under CC0 via Wikimedia Commons.
stop drinking and go to bed?
Pluto is the Boise State of the Solar System.
I just popped open one of these:
(BTW, shouldn't Bell's Neptune be released any day now?)
Here's NASA"s writeup about the size debate too - LINK
Mission scientists have found Pluto to be 1,473 miles (2,370 kilometers) in diameter, somewhat larger than many prior estimates. Images acquired with the Long Range Reconnaissance Imager (LORRI) were used to make this determination. This result confirms what was already suspected: Pluto is larger than all other known solar system objects beyond the orbit of Neptune.
They also mention that Pluto's density is lower than previously thought, but the amount of ice in its interior is higher than once believed as well.
I thought the whole reason its planetary status was demoted was because it hasn't cleared its local neighborhood.
Only way Pluto isn't a planet would be if it looked like this
No, then it wouldn't be a moon.
The Death Star would in fact be classified a planet because it would be capable of "clearing the neighborhood".
actually it does the opposite?
I have a tshirt that says "Back in my day there were 9 planets."
You may now go on with your lives.
Nibiru shows up.
that some parts of Pluto only see sunlight once every one hundred years..Think about that for a second......Columbus Oh came immediately to mind
An oldie but goodie (and you may recognize the very first commenter to that post)
http://heyjennyslater.blogspot.com/2006/08/interplanetary-social-chat-4…
MARS_BITCHES: hey jupter, hows your red spot, any better?
JuPiTeR: nope, still hurts
JuPiTeR: it suxx
MARS_BITCHES: sorry man
*** ADMIN: pluto has entered the chat room ***
pluto: hey guys whats up
SaturnRulz: ???
pluto: ???
JuPiTeR: umm i thought this was for planets only
youranus: ya rly
pluto: what r u talking abuot?
SaturnRulz: dude your not a planet, your orbits all fucked up
Earth4578: Yeah, it's called a circle, look it up
youranus: lol
MARS_BITCHES: pwn3d
pluto: it's not fucked up, it's eccentric
Earth4578: whatev
youranus: lol eccentric = fucked up
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Then he won a few games and focused recruiting efforts on Jupiter and Saturn
And yet we still got the Sun to commit to us. We still win all the big in-Solar System recruiting battles.
Drives RCMB nuts.