Does anyone know whether or not pluto is a planet?

Question

Does anyone know whether or not pluto is a planet?

Answer 1

Well all my Dang Textbooks from College say it is, so yeah.  s***w the rest, call it what we want.  For Pete's sake we lobby to keep the Penny around, cant we call it what it is. ;)

Answer 2

I know:  Not.

Answer 3

"Pluto was disqualified because its highly elliptical orbit overlaps with that of Neptune."

Shouldn't that also disqualify Neptune as a planet;  since it to has failed to clear it's orbit of Pluto?

Pluto is what it is and what it has always been.  As much as I understand the Society's arguement, the label has become a part of our language, and the dubious clarification will only add confusion to a complex subject which is very far from settled.  The traditional classification should be left in place, if only to better do justice to the history of Astronomy.  

The West Indies, are still the West Indies, although we now know that they are no where near India.  The only thing reclassifying Pluto does, is ensure that those involved get an added commission from the publication of an updated edition of their standard textbooks.

Answer 4

*Astronomers for centuries considered Pluto a planet*

Amazing, as it was only discovered in 1930...

Answer 5

If you called it a strudel it would still be what it was before.

Answer 6

Pluto is considered a dwarf planet, but not a real planet like Earth and Mars. They took Pluto out because a while ago they found a planet that was similar to Pluto (smaller than the other planets and icy) they called Planet X, but Planet X was a little bigger than Pluto and there were other astroids that were in the same classification as Pluto . So if they kept Pluto as a planet, then they would have to add all those other astroids as planets and we would have over a dozen planets. (Or something like that) So the easiest thing to do was take Pluto out, though some still regard it as  a planet.

Answer 7

Not any more. It's officially been downgraded. It's now part of a class of objects called "plutoids," formerly called dwarf planets.

Answer 8

There are three rules which a planet must have to make it a planet.

1)It must orbit the Sun-Pluto does this

2)It must have enough gravity to make itself a sphere- Pluto also does this.

3)It must have cleared the neighbourhood of its orbit- Pluto has not done this.

Clearing the neighbourhood basicallly means it has either consumed or slung away any other matter in its orbit using its gravity. This is where Pluto fails the critria to be a planet- it is a dwarf planet.

Answer 9

According to the International Astronomical Union, no.  They have a new definition.

According to me, yes.  My definition is better. The "clear your orbit" bit should leave us with just one planet - Jupiter.  All other objects orbiting the Sun are in resonance with Jupiter, the solar system's gravitational bully.

Originally, the Earth was not a planet.  A planet was something in the sky that moves.  The seven planets were the Sun, the Moon, Mars, Venus, Mercury, Jupiter and Saturn.  Each has a day of the week named after it.

Later, it was discovered that the Moon orbits the Earth, and most of the other things orbit the Sun.  Oh, and the Earth orbits the Sun.  So the Sun and Moon were kicked out of the planet club.

In 1800, Ceres was discovered between Mars and Jupiter.  By 1850, several other objects were found to orbit between Mars and Jupiter.  So Ceres was demoted to the status Minor Planet.  Are minor planets still planets?  Well all sort of tiny rocks are minor planets, and no one calls them planets.  But recently, Pluto was demoted to yet a new category "Dwarf Planet".  Are dwarf planets still planets?  Feh.  Pluto now has a minor planet number.  It's the same stupid game.

Pluto is big enough that it's more or less spherical.  It has three known moons and an atmosphere. Mercury has neither moons or atmosphere.  Sounds like Pluto is planet to me.

Answer 10

Nope, it is officially a "dwarf planet"

=[ Sorry Pluto. We shall miss you....

Answer 11

this is an on-going debate within astronomy circles. it was  actually demoted from being a planet due mainly to its irregular orbit around the sun.

Answer 12

From the time I was in 3rd grade until I graduated High School in 1972 and several generations before that were taught that Pluto was a planet. Astronomers for centuries considered Pluto a planet.  So why change eons of knowledge to make it wrong?

Answer 13

One of the three criteria for planethood states that a planet must have "cleared the neighbourhood around its orbit". The largest objects in the Solar System will either collect together material in their path or fling it out of the way with a gravitational swipe.

Pluto was disqualified because its highly elliptical orbit overlaps with that of Neptune.

Answer 14

The word "planet" has a specific definition. I guess Pluto didn't fit.