View Full Version : Pluto voted off as a planet
PaulPool
08-24-2006, 03:31 PM
Astronomers have voted to strip Pluto of its status as a planet. (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/5282440.stm)
http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/42012000/jpg/_42012422_solar_system_planets3_416.jpg
The critical blow for Pluto came with the discovery three years ago of an object currently designated 2003 UB313. After being measured with the Hubble Space Telescope, it was shown to be some 3,000km (1,864 miles) in diameter: it is bigger than Pluto.
2003 UB313 will now join Pluto in the dwarf category, along with Pluto's major moon, Charon, and the biggest asteroid in the Solar System, Ceres.
Named after the god of the underworld in Roman mythology, Pluto orbits the Sun at an average distance of 5.9 billion kilometres (3.7 billion miles) taking 247.9 Earth years to complete a single circuit of the Sun.
An unmanned US spacecraft, New Horizons, is due to fly by Pluto and the Kuiper Belt in 2015.
diana3
08-24-2006, 03:46 PM
it was my favorite planet too :(
Buddy H2O
08-24-2006, 03:52 PM
Yeh i heard about this already, one of the h2os was freaking out about it and went psycho. Pretty interesting though.
Xg Ricochet
08-24-2006, 04:12 PM
My childhood is in tatters! New rhymes are going to have to be thought up now too.
x SexyPink x
08-24-2006, 04:14 PM
thats pretty much bs
hot chief DSO
08-24-2006, 04:18 PM
oh no, what does this mean for Goofy?
black mamba DSO
08-24-2006, 04:23 PM
oh no, what does this mean for Goofy?
*giggles*
H2O Ninjitstu
08-24-2006, 05:36 PM
Ooops I didn't see this post before posting in the other topic. But yeah very interesting. Although it's the size of North America I'd define a planet as something big enough to be inhabitable. Which Pluto could be if the atmosphere allowed it.
Paulina
08-24-2006, 07:04 PM
Thats Dumb Cuz Now They Tottaly F'ed Up Every Thing...I Grew Up Knowing That Pluto Was The Smallest And The Furthest Away From The Sun! Now Its Not Even A Planet. Every Book Out There Talking About Planets Is Out Of Date Now Cuz Pluto Isnt A Planet Any More.....They Are Going To Confuse The Kids That Are In The Lower Grades Of School Because They Just Learned That Pluto Was The Smallest And The Furthest Away From The Sun....They Now Have To Tell Them That Its Not A Planet Any More...They Shouldve Left It The Way It Was....Its Stupid Of Them. They Used To Say That There Was 10 Or 11 Planets....What Happend To Them??
It Pisses Me Off That They Did That...Its Just...UGHH...Its Unreasonalbe And It Pisses Me Off!..My Little Brother Is Confused And My Mom And Dad Grew Up With It being A Planet All There Life...Its Dumb And That Should Have Never Shouldve Happen.
Theres My Saying In All Of This
Gypsyfly PMS
08-24-2006, 07:51 PM
WoW, and I was worried that we would have too many planets to remember....
x SexyPink x
08-24-2006, 07:59 PM
GEez Paulina Its Really Annoying Typing Like This But Its More Annoying Reading This
Sir Tequila
08-24-2006, 09:02 PM
Roll with the punches, I suppose.
PMS Kahlo
08-24-2006, 09:38 PM
Hmm so who actually gets to "vote" on what's a planet and what's not?
Jumper PMS
08-24-2006, 09:46 PM
Oh noes!!! Pluto was my favorite :( that sucks. haha.
Devolution
08-24-2006, 09:56 PM
Thats Dumb Cuz Now They Tottaly F'ed Up Every Thing...I Grew Up Knowing That Pluto Was The Smallest And The Furthest Away From The Sun! Now Its Not Even A Planet. Every Book Out There Talking About Planets Is Out Of Date Now Cuz Pluto Isnt A Planet Any More.....They Are Going To Confuse The Kids That Are In The Lower Grades Of School Because They Just Learned That Pluto Was The Smallest And The Furthest Away From The Sun....They Now Have To Tell Them That Its Not A Planet Any More...They Shouldve Left It The Way It Was....Its Stupid Of Them. They Used To Say That There Was 10 Or 11 Planets....What Happend To Them??
It Pisses Me Off That They Did That...Its Just...UGHH...Its Unreasonalbe And It Pisses Me Off!..My Little Brother Is Confused And My Mom And Dad Grew Up With It being A Planet All There Life...Its Dumb And That Should Have Never Shouldve Happen.
Theres My Saying In All Of This
Is it unreasonable that they want to change the definition of a planet for progress?
I don't understand why people need to see Pluto stay a planet "cause that's the way it's been since I've been a child." I think the more they know about our universe and the more they clarify, the better. If more knowledge means some planets will no longer be labeled as "planets", that's fine to me.
KaRnAge
08-24-2006, 10:18 PM
Whats ceres never heard of that planet.Also they were supposed to found like 5 more planets near Pluto about 2 months ago.
x SexyPink x
08-24-2006, 11:44 PM
pluto will always remain in my heart
H2O SkywalkerX
08-25-2006, 12:18 AM
Thats Dumb Cuz Now They Tottaly F'ed Up Every Thing...I Grew Up Knowing That Pluto Was The Smallest And The Furthest Away From The Sun! Now Its Not Even A Planet. Every Book Out There Talking About Planets Is Out Of Date Now Cuz Pluto Isnt A Planet Any More.....They Are Going To Confuse The Kids That Are In The Lower Grades Of School Because They Just Learned That Pluto Was The Smallest And The Furthest Away From The Sun....They Now Have To Tell Them That Its Not A Planet Any More...They Shouldve Left It The Way It Was....Its Stupid Of Them. They Used To Say That There Was 10 Or 11 Planets....What Happend To Them??
It Pisses Me Off That They Did That...Its Just...UGHH...Its Unreasonalbe And It Pisses Me Off!..My Little Brother Is Confused And My Mom And Dad Grew Up With It being A Planet All There Life...Its Dumb And That Should Have Never Shouldve Happen.
Theres My Saying In All Of This
EVERYTHING has changed. not just in science. and EVERYONE has had to cope. sorry, but get over it. without change we cannot progress throughout the world. Grandparents grew up with TV's that used antenna's and had nob's. now we have huge TV's with remotes with thousands of buttons. things change. and everyone has to cope.
Paulina
08-25-2006, 01:06 AM
GEez Paulina Its Really Annoying Typing Like This But Its More Annoying Reading This
Too Bad....Its A Habit I Picked Up....Get Used To It
Dizzydude
08-25-2006, 01:15 AM
It's a planet, just a wee planet. A dwarf planet.
Oh and for the record, the name for the lil' planet after Pluto really sucks. How about before they decide what's a planet or not, they should give it a proper name first.
"Here's my children, X4563839 and 575kfhjrui, aren't they sweet?"
I vote it be renamed to, either Dwarf Planet Dizzydude, or the Dwarf Planet Formerly Known as 2003 blah blah
VballChick PMS
08-25-2006, 10:34 AM
so pretty much they fake the moon landing, hide the aliens on area 51 and blow up pluto....gotta love the goverment
eye dun bleeve dis. I started a petition saying their findings are bias to oliptical orbits.
In reality I think one phrase says it all:
"Oh noes oh noes! The world is not flat again!"
xi Apocalypse ix
08-25-2006, 11:38 AM
so pretty much they fake the moon landing, hide the aliens on area 51 and blow up pluto....gotta love the goverment I agree with VBall on that, the gov. tryed to hide everything that has something to do with Area 51, aliens, the Roswell Incident too. The gov. is pretty good about doing all that.
I'm less concerned with supposed aliens and our nature as humans to become paranoid, and more concerned with rising crude oil prices, public education, and wars. Pluto being pull from the "Solar line up" is no big deal.
PMS HateMaker
08-25-2006, 12:20 PM
This is really stupid. Just because there are bigger rocks out there doesn't mean Pluto can't classify as a planet. Pluto has been a planet for literally thousands of years, even the Ancient Sumerians knew about it. Although they considered it the first planet...and the earth the 7th planet. Why? Because they were counting from the outside in.
In my opinion they probably voted to change it so they could say they had some say in ordering the universe. In 100 years they'll probably change it back. These are crazy times and people have a retarded and damaging sense of self-importance.
Fayth
08-25-2006, 02:43 PM
Its actually not about the size of pluto, its because pluto's orbit overlaps with neptune's orbit.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060825/ap_on_sc/planet_mutiny
asphix
08-25-2006, 02:45 PM
Is it unreasonable that they want to change the definition of a planet for progress?
I don't understand why people need to see Pluto stay a planet "cause that's the way it's been since I've been a child." I think the more they know about our universe and the more they clarify, the better. If more knowledge means some planets will no longer be labeled as "planets", that's fine to me.
QFT!
I'd have to say that with my personal opinion aside, it really doesnt matter. What they say makes sense and I'm sure the definition of "planet" will change many more times as we come to grasp exactly what is out there and build up a library of terms, concepts, truths/facts, theories with which we will define "reality" through relative comparisons.
The human existence and its interaction with "reality" is only possible because of metaphor. And due to the nature of metaphor, the "world" is constantly changing based on factors such as perception, relativity, context and social norm.
You can only be happy because you know what it is to be sad. You can only be energetic because you know what it is to be tired. The sky is up only because you know the ground is down... you get the point.
Just think, if no one challanged old definitions of existing concepts we still might consider "the world" to be a giant flat surface on which we all live. Regardless of it really being round.. simply because it always was thought of to be flat! and on that note, the transition to the world being round saw the world being square as well as just a flat planar surface. Such is the evolution of defenitions and thus the evolution of the "truth" of our reality.
*edit* just read that edx made the point my last paragraph did several posts ago.. ah well :D
Paulina
08-25-2006, 03:06 PM
I Agree With VBall Too....And Plus Uranus Is Mostly Gas So Why Is That A Planet?
True. I'll miss the planet pluto, even though its still considered a dwarf planet!!!!
notice the word "planet" is bolded. :)
S w a k
08-27-2006, 10:20 AM
Lol oh well, I'm sure Pluto will find a way to overcome this.
Basically I think they should have left it alone, it's only been a planet for what .. ever?
Fayth
08-27-2006, 02:08 PM
Lol oh well, I'm sure Pluto will find a way to overcome this.
Basically I think they should have left it alone, it's only been a planet for what .. ever?
it was discovered in 1930 so...
about 76 years actually
Kal-El
08-27-2006, 07:21 PM
These are crazy times and people have a retarded and damaging sense of self-importance.
I'd say the people with the damaging sense of self-importance are those whining that the scientists are stupid because they don't like the new definition. If it was up to people like you, the world would still be flat and the universe would still revolve around the Earth.
I'm sorry to tell you this, but those "retarded" scientists have gone to university and have been studying the cosmos for years. Compared to them you're just some person whining about how they changed something and you don't like it. Instead of thinking about how what they did might benefit human kind in the future, all you can think about is how you don't like it so it's wrong to have changed it. Talk about having a damaging sense of self-importance. :rolleyes:
I think they know a little more about what they're talking about than you.
Your kitten eating scares me. I'm glad I have a phobia of not spelling things right.
PMS HateMaker
08-30-2006, 10:57 AM
it was discovered in 1930 so...
about 76 years actually
As I mentioned above, the Ancient Sumerians knew about Pluto 6,000 years ago. Now onto the testy dude:
I'd say the people with the damaging sense of self-importance are those whining that the scientists are stupid because they don't like the new definition. If it was up to people like you, the world would still be flat and the universe would still revolve around the Earth.
I'm sorry to tell you this, but those "retarded" scientists have gone to university and have been studying the cosmos for years. Compared to them you're just some person whining about how they changed something and you don't like it. Instead of thinking about how what they did might benefit human kind in the future, all you can think about is how you don't like it so it's wrong to have changed it. Talk about having a damaging sense of self-importance.
I think they know a little more about what they're talking about than you.
Wow, just Wow. If you would invest in a little reading comprehension I never called any scientists stupid, that was your little addition. It would probably be wise to actually, I don't know, KNOW someone first before you start slinging insults and accusations. Are you like, one of the scientists who voted? IF so, excellent...I've been meaning to have a word with you.
So I suppose the "Flat Earth" comment was in reference to me being some kind of scientific conservative? That's so far from the truth its laughable actually (again, the knowing me part comes in here.) While astronomy was a subject I decided not to minor in at university I still studied it a lot and still consider it one of my hobbies. I subscribe to the Planet X theory and a lot of other theories that many establishment astronomers would find laughable. Just out of curiosity how exactly is it that un-naming Pluto a planet will benefit mankind in the future? I'd be very interested in that explanation.
I also never called any scientists retarded...as that would be a retarded statement wouldn't it? The only people I know-of with contempt for science and scientists are neo-con republicans, and Christian fundamentalists. However, this particular bit of science is SUBJECTIVE science, and open to interpretation. While scientists deserve every respect they are also humans, and humans have opinions and agendas.
I'm not "whining about this just because I don't like it." I have several reasons for being opposed to the change. However, why would I explain any of those reasons to a dog who bites first and asks questions later? aka you?
Esty H2O
08-30-2006, 11:32 AM
While the whole idea of re-classifying pluto as just a "icy dwarf" isn't going to change the world as we know it, I see it as a testament to how far science and knowledge can take us. We know more about the icy-dwarf and what makes it up, and once knowing about it we have been able to re-classify it as such. Science is all about breaking boundaries, shedding new light on things we once took for granted, and finding small little tid-bits about things we already knew a little something about. Embrace the idea, know that we're getting that much closer to knowing everything about our solar system.
Kal-El
08-30-2006, 12:02 PM
As I mentioned above, the Ancient Sumerians knew about Pluto 6,000 years ago. Now onto the testy dude:
Wow, just Wow. If you would invest in a little reading comprehension I never called any scientists stupid, that was your little addition. It would probably be wise to actually, I don't know, KNOW someone first before you start slinging insults and accusations. Are you like, one of the scientists who voted? IF so, excellent...I've been meaning to have a word with you.
So I suppose the "Flat Earth" comment was in reference to me being some kind of scientific conservative? That's so far from the truth its laughable actually (again, the knowing me part comes in here.) While astronomy was a subject I decided not to minor in at university I still studied it a lot and still consider it one of my hobbies. I subscribe to the Planet X theory and a lot of other theories that many establishment astronomers would find laughable. Just out of curiosity how exactly is it that un-naming Pluto a planet will benefit mankind in the future? I'd be very interested in that explanation.
I also never called any scientists retarded...as that would be a retarded statement wouldn't it? The only people I know-of with contempt for science and scientists are neo-con republicans, and Christian fundamentalists. However, this particular bit of science is SUBJECTIVE science, and open to interpretation. While scientists deserve every respect they are also humans, and humans have opinions and agendas.
I'm not "whining about this just because I don't like it." I have several reasons for being opposed to the change. However, why would I explain any of those reasons to a dog who bites first and asks questions later? aka you?
You're complaining how scientist have a retarded and destructive sense of self-importance because they re-classified a planet, and you don't like it. It's not about selfimportance. It's about discovery and what we've come to learn about the world outside the atmosphere.
You should also invest in a little reading comprehension. They didn't take away Pluto's status as a planet, only reclassified it further. It's now an dwarf planet (notice the word PLANET there) instead of just being a plain ol' "planet." This helps the future of human kind because it saves people from confusion. The term "planet" as it was could be applied to any number of objects floating around in our solar system (more than 50 according to the article).
PS: my last post wasn't directed at only you. It was directed at everyone who's getting mad about scientists doing their job. What does it change in your life? Nothing. On top of that you're complaining about something that isn't even true. Pluto is still a planet. It's just a different kind of planet.