Hello Peeps,
Pluto and other small objects are to have their planetary status redefined:
[link= http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/4789531.stm ]http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/4789531.stm[/link]
What makes a 'planet' a 'planet' is to come under the microscope in a few days. Could we see a reclassification of Pluto, and some asteroids, perhaps?
Patsy.
RE: New thinking on planets
Looking at this subject again, I have to ask - what makes a planet a planet? Is it so because we say it is? The Moon is comparible in size to Mercury and Venus, but we don't regard it as a planet (although the Moon and Earth is a 'double planet' system, as Pluto and Charon is) but Mercury and Venus are classified as 'planets.'Why then, in this 'pantheon of planets, is Pluto to be downgraded?It does not make sense.
Patsy.
RE: New thinking on planets
a weed is a plant you don't like the look of...
RE: New thinking on planets
Exactly, caveman. But what is the point of the exercise? I am flummoxed....
Patsy.
[:-]
RE: New thinking on planets
Surely the moon is a moon and not a planet because it orbits the earth. Pluto, like the other planets, orbits the sun. I guess NASA just have some bored people 😀
I suppose they just have to update their way of seeing the universe as their knowledge of it grows and they begin to see it clearer. Personally I would be sad if they relegated Pluto to a moon or other celestial body. I have always known it as a planet - that's what we were taught in school! It kind of worries you when things you were taught and believed for years turn out differently. A little un-nerving!