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You're always a planet to me....


FenlandPaul

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An emotional and nostalgic view I may have, but I grew up with 9 planets in the solar system and that is the way it will always be for me.

However, the analytical part of me which has a master’s degree in astrophysics acknowledges there was an issue with the old definition given our new vastly improved understanding of the solar system.  Still a planet though! :grin: (That will be emotional side again!) 

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Mistakes were made in the classification of Pluto right from its discovery. It was said to be larger than the Earth. Much of this was wishful thinking. Planet X had to be massive enough to give the measured gravitational effects observed on the orbits of Uranus and Neptune. The known size of Pluto shrank and shrank until it was realised it was in fact smaller than the Moon.

Mistakes in science occur all the time, but as the true facts become known then corrections must be made. Nostalgia has not really got any place in scientific method. How ever, each individual can can call Pluto a planet if that is there wish. The scientific community can not do this or chaos would rule.

New horizons has shown Pluto to be one of the most interesting objects in the Solar system. Exciting times are ahead as all the data is downloaded.

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Casually speaking, Pluto is a planet - it's a dwarf planet in the sense that the Earth is a rocky planet or that Jupiter is a giant planet. Dwarf planet a descriptive rather than a derogatory term, it doesn't imply that it is somehow a less interesting object. The fuss over it's demotion (itself a loaded word) has more to do with our linguistic prejudices than the relative merits of the various ways planet could be defined.

pluto will aways be a planet to me too, i think there should be a world wide vote instead of just a organization telling us all what to belive.  clear skys. charl.

Science really shouldn't look to emulate Britain's Got Talent or Pop Idol, it is not a democracy. ;) The Earth is flat or it isn't. Climate change is anthropogenic or not.

"...reality must take precedence over public relations, for nature cannot be fooled."

Taxonomy is at the fuzzy end of science. Planet/Dwarf planet is a somewhat useful distinction when talking about the solar system and its formation, so has some genuine value. It's less useful in other contexts, such as when looking for somewhere to pitch a tent.

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There is the emotional attacment to something learnt at school v  the science which re classified it. Does that science hold up since this Mission ? Pluto is not like the other Dwarf Plantets...they look more like simple rocky moons. And , as yet we have no real knowledge of what a Kuiper belt object will be like....they may surprise us as Pluto has done .  Still ,  I have re converted to it being a Planet. But it does look like a Mouldy Orange !

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I don't think there will be any changes, I mean the definition of a planet refers that the object must be big enough to be rounded by its own gravity and that it should have cleared the neighboring area of planetesimals(?), that it has cleared it's orbit. 

I would be fun to have again an 9th planet. I like Pluto, I like its name and its pictures. But I don't like the idea having a planet that I won't be able to see reasonably (I mean I will observe him as a star through a telescope) :p 

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I posted a link to the programme with the song a few days ago, too :)  I've been wanting to go to see Mitch Benn live for a while, but since the theatre in Taunton closed down no-one seems to come anywhere that doesn't require a couple of hours driving :(  He did an excellent song about Minecraft two or three series ago which will certainly strike a chord (hah! :) with parents who have school age children.

Personally I don't care how Pluto is categorised.  It's still there.  It's still the same thing it was before.  It's just as interesting.  I can't get fussed about labels.

James

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i think there should be a world wide vote instead of just a organization telling us all what to belive.  clear skys. charl.

To be followed by public votes on whether the Earth is flat, does vaccination work, do power lines cause cancer and whether or not pirates cause earthquakes?

There's a reason experts made a decision rather than the general public. Pluto is not a planet.

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I posted a link to the programme with the song a few days ago, too :)  I've been wanting to go to see Mitch Benn live for a while, but since the theatre in Taunton closed down no-one seems to come anywhere that doesn't require a couple of hours driving :(  He did an excellent song about Minecraft two or three series ago which will certainly strike a chord (hah! :) with parents who have school age children.

Personally I don't care how Pluto is categorised.  It's still there.  It's still the same thing it was before.  It's just as interesting.  I can't get fussed about labels.

James

Neither goes Pluto :)

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