Do you think Pluto is sad that it's not a planet anymore?
823004
Let's try to see this from Pluto's point of view.\n\nPluto received news in 1930 that the folks on Earth had proclaimed him as a Planet, putting him in a very exclusive group of Solar System inhabitants.\n\nPluto was very flattered indeed.\n\nPrior to this, he had been minding his own business, hurting nobody, as you rightly pointed out.  Well, almost nobody...  There were those pesky little rocks in the neighborhood that he just had to shoo away, like the little toddlers that sometimes walk right up to you in the mall.  But it wasn't very often, and Pluto was generally very well behaved in his 3:2 resonant orbit with the local neighborhood big guy, Neppy-whats-his-face.\n\nBut hey, if the folks on Earth put Pluto with Neppy, more power to you guys!\n\nBut the truth is, Pluto has been around for a long, long time, quietly doing his rounds.\n\nNow, you Earthlings decide to take away - some say "dethrone" - his title as a Planet.  Oh, the audacity!...\n\nBut in reality, the insult is felt by Pluto's friends on Earth (including yours truly).  Pluto heard about the raucous in August, but you know what?\n\nHe's still doing his rounds in the cold, dark outer reaches of our stellar neighborhood quietly and without complaining.  He's been doing it for many millennia now.  Maybe, when the boredom gets to him - or perhaps when a fit of playfulness seizes him - he may send a icy piece of rock heading our way, but I'm sure he'll aim to miss.\n\nPluto is a nice guy.  He never hurt anyone except those pesky toddler rocks.  I'm sad for him, but he knows he has friends down here.  He and his chums in the Kuiper Belt are probably laughing at Earthlings who can't seem to make up our minds.\n\nI heard Xena was about to call a neighborhood party to celebrate her ascension.  She's pissed.  Maybe she's the one who'll hurl that rock at us...
3028
Xena.  Planet Xena and her moon Gabriella.  I'm not even kidding, that's what they named it.  There is current debate as to whether or not it is actually planet because it is so small and so far out, but on that note there is also debate still going as to whether pluto is actually a planet or not.  Really, it all depends on how you define planet.  As far as I can tell, the debate is mostly due to how small they are as to whether or not they're actually planets and not just planetoids.
763580
Redefining a planet as another type of solar system celestial body has occurred before. Don't think the scientists are nit-picking on Pluto. In the 1800's astronomers discovered a  celestial body(Ceres) between Mars & Jupiter, & initially named it as a planet. But other celestial bodies were discovered between Mars & Jupiter, & astronomers knew that the solar system had become more complex than they previously thought. Therefore, they renamed these previously named planets as asteroids. No one today thinks the asteroids between Mars & Jupiter should be planets. Since thousands of celestial bodies beyond the orbit of Neptune have been discovered(several really big ones), it seems logical to redefine Pluto as one of the trans-Neptunian objects or Kuiper belt objects to reflect our more complex understanding of our solar system. It happened in the 1800's to the Mars-Jupiter asteroids...it just happened in the 21st century for the Kuiper Belt objects. The reason that Pluto's planetary status was not reassigned before now was to honor Pluto's discoverer, Dr. Clyde Tombaugh. Pluto's discovery was truly amazing in the1930's. But Dr. Tombaugh's widow Patricia, age 93, reluctantly admitted that even Dr. Tombaugh would understand Pluto's reassignment.
638225
Pluto facts:\n\nDiscovered at Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona where Northern Arizona University is located.  This observatory was initially used to look for canals on Mars.\n\nIt is debated as a planet, because it does not fit the density patterns observed from other planets in the solar system.\n\nIt has an atmosphere, which is odd given its size.\n\nIts moon, Charon, is actually located within its atmosphere, which almost makes it a double planet.\n\nIt is approximately 40 AU from the sun, which is 40 times the distance between the sun and the earth.\n\nPluto may not be the last planet in the solar system, as there is evidence of a planet, known as Xena.\n\nAfter the discovery of Neptune, some people were still concerned over a variation in gravitational forces, and the search began.\n\nPhotos of Pluto were taken in 1915 and were not discovered for almost 15 years.\n\nPluto has the highest eccentric orbit of the known planets, that is it is much more elliptical rather than circular.\n\nIs this enough?
352109
Actually, the people who found it honestly want to have it called Xena.\n\nOn July 29, 2005, a Trans-Neptunian object called 2003 UB313 was announced, which on the basis of its magnitude and simple albedo considerations is assumed to be larger than Pluto. This caused its discoverers to call it the "10th planet" of the solar system, although there is no consensus yet on whether to call it a planet, and others consider the new discovery to be the strongest argument yet for demoting Pluto to the status of a minor planet.\n\nBut until then, it's being refered to as Planet X.
876128
The atmosphere on Pluto is pretty drab and depressing. So far from the Sun that it's always dark, Nothing around but rocks and      like that, No entertainment worth a damn, unless you like to sit and look at most gases freeze.\n\nAlso, the last time I was there, the service really sucked and my waitress was a real DOG.\n\nI'd suggest that, for a good time, you check out any of the phone numbers in the bathroom at the Greyhound Station.
1131127
No.\n\nIts likely even that Pluto will be relegated to being a Kuiper belt object rather than a plnet, leaving just 8.\n\nKuiper belt objects are regularly discovered.
375309
Right now there are officially 9 planets. Depending on what we decide in the next year or so that number will change to 8, stay 9, go to 10, or even larger.  \n\nAn object larger than Pluto (2003 UB313) has been found, but we have not granted it official status as a planet. Don't expect this issue to be resolved any time soon, we've more or less "tabled" the issue until our general meeting in August, but there are a number of scientists in the IAU's Division of Planetary Sciences discussing this issue.\n\nRight now the newer astronomy textbooks generally have a section on "the planet controversy," and spend some time talking about all these newly discovered icy bodies.  They are all part of the Kuiper Belt, just like Pluto, and new books seem to be grabbing onto teaching about these objects much like the asteroids, addressing them as the left-overs of the formation of the solar system.  The Cosmic Perspective (a fairly decent intro astro textbook) for example has a chapter on "Remnants of Rock and Ice: Asteroids, Comets and Pluto"
785248
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pluto\nhttp://www.iau.org/fileadmin/content/pdfs/Resolution_GA26-5-6.pdf\n\non 24 august 2006, the international astronomical union reclassified pluto.\n\npluto does orbit the sun, is ball-shaped and is not a satellite, but it does not have an isolated orbit (a bunch of other similar bodies have similar orbits.) so it is not a planet.\n\ni have been waiting for this since i was about ten when i learned that pluto didn't fit the pattern set by the major bodies in the solar system so it was an anomaly. it just felt "out of place". now that astronomers have found hundreds of other bodies with similar orbits, classifying "134340 pluto" as a planet is even more irrational. i feel somewhat satisfied, but i don't know how long this will drag on tho. many planetary astronomers are satisfied that the definition is rigorous enuf. i can accept that the definition is flawed, but i can not accept that "134340 pluto" is a planet.\n\nthis was the right thing to do, believe me. this does not change anything about pluto or the solar system. this just corrects the mistake of classifying pluto as a planet initially.\n\nthis same thing happened has happened before.  in 1800, an astronomer found a body orbiting the sun between the orbits of mars and jupiter and thought it was a planet.  astronomers finally stopped classifying them as planets after they found several other bodies with similar orbits, and no one thinks ceres, pallas, juno, and vesta are planets today.\n\nmany astronomers consider pluto and charon to be a binary system, but two small bodies orbit that system. they are called nix and hydra.\n\nincidentally, "134340 pluto" was never a moon of neptune. neptune did capture triton. this is why triton has a retrograde orbit
920049
You say that as if it is a bad thing.  Why not say, should Clinton get credit for Pluto not being a planet.  Personally, I think Clinton has more of an interest in Uranus than Pluto.
919486
All of the above are incorrect in terms of the semantics of what "officially" makes a planet a planet. You need to look at the IAU (International Astronomical Union) definition of planet to see why Pluto is now defined as a dwarf planet\n\nFirst, why does Pluto not fit the IAU planet defintion?\n\n(1) A "planet"1 is a celestial body that (a) is in orbit around the Sun, (b) has sufficient mass for its self-gravity to overcome rigid body forces so that it assumes a hydrostatic equilibrium (nearly round) shape, and (c) has cleared the neighbourhood around its orbit.\n\nPluto fails in "c".  Personally, I think "neighborhood" should be definined in terms of an orbital dynamics phase space since it never comes close to Neptune due to the 3:2 resonance  of their  orbits: my opinion and $3.95 will get you decaf latte at Starbucks. (Hmm... Neptune has not cleared Pluto out of ITS orbit either. . . maybe they know about some other icy bodies in Pluto's orbit?)\n\nPluto DOES meet the qualifications  for a dwarf planet.\n(2) A "dwarf planet" is a celestial body that (a) is in orbit around the Sun, (b) has sufficient mass for its self-gravity to overcome rigid body forces so that it assumes a hydrostatic equilibrium (nearly round) shape2, (c) has not cleared the neighbourhood around its orbit, and (d) is not a satellite.
150101
The small size and weird, distant orbit makes it feel more or less like a stray double-moon. I'm not sure why it's considered a planet really - maybe it's the smaller body that rotates it, Charon, that makes us class it as a planet, maybe it's because we looked for a reason for the deviations in the planets orbits and prematurely labeled it planet. As for me, I do - mostly because Pluto is always mentioned as a planet.
141708
Yes. It's actually in our own solar system.  Whether it is a planet or not is the real question.  It is really small.  While bigger than pluto, it is still smaller than the Earth's moon!
567731
That's right because Pluto, in fact, may actually be an asteroid and not a planet at all.  It was thought for years that Pluto is a planet, and likely not formally *changed* persay, but it's the largest mass found in an asteroid belt, and, being spherical, it was assumed to be a planet.\n\nScience and the invention of things like the Hubble telescope have shown us more detail on such things as galaxies, planets, asteroid belts, etc.
2903
I quote : "Two small moons have been discovered orbiting Pluto, bringing the planet's retinue of known satellites to three and leaving scientist to wonder how it could be. ...The moons are catalogued as S/2005 P1 and S/2005 P2 for now. Once they are confirmed, the discoverers will suggest names, to be approved by the International Astronomical Union."\n\nFrom: http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/051031_pluto_moons.html
1054611
It depends on the exact definition of a planet. 2003 UB313 is a an object that is out past Pluto, AND it is bigger than Pluto (and yes 2003 UB313 orbits the Sun).\n\nIn September, the IAU will give the exact definition of a planet. At this time, our solar system could officially have more planets, or it could have less. \n\nSome people don't think Pluto should be classified as a planet, and many say that if Pluto was discovered today, it wouldn't be classified as a planet. But if Pluto remains a planet, it is likely 2003 UB313 will become our tenth planet.
47426
No. There have been a number of objects discovered recently in the outer solar system, including one which appears to be larger than Pluto. But unless something about the size of Neptune is found (which is possible) none of these are likely to gain official planet status.\n\nIn fact, in many respects Pluto should be "demoted," although that is not going to happen.\n\nThere isn't a real scientific definition of where the boundry is between a planet and, say, a moon, or a Kuiper object. For most objects it's clear what to call them, but for others the classification is ambigious. The reason being, of course, that our classifications are (somewhat) arbitrary and the solar system is composed of a continuum of objects of different sizes, in different orbits, etc.\n\nPluto was called a planet when it was discovered because a 9th planet was expected. Percival Lowell spent a long time looking for such a planet which he predicted from orbital irregularities he calculated with Neptune and Uranus. But he never found what he was looking for. Clyde Tombaugh, a couple of years later, resumed the search and eventually discovered Pluto. However, Pluto is much too small and in the wrong place to be Lowell's suspected planet. Lowell was probably just wrong in his calculations.\n\nBecause a 9th planet was expected and because in 1930 little could be told of Pluto's physical characteristics, I don't think anyone seriously doubted whether or not it should be classified as a planet. It seemed obvious, at the time, that it was.\n\nIn the 1950s and 1960s astronmers began to postulate that comets orginated from a vast pool of objects in the extreme distant regions of the solar system. This lead to the hypothesis of the Oort cloud, and the "closer" Kuiper belt (that being 50 - 100 AU from the Sun).\n\nIt wasn't until the 1990s that a lot of Kuiper-esque objects were actually discovered. (I hedge on the classification, because some objects similar in diamter, etc., have been found inside the orbit of Pluto.)\n\nIf in 1930 Clyde Tombaugh had an inkling of something like a Kuiper belt he probably would not have assumed that Pluto was a planet. If Pluto was discovered today it also would (probably) not be considered a planet.\n\nSo basically, if we could re-do history Pluto would be "demoted." On the other hand, there have been generations of kids who learned the whole 9 planets bit. Because of the the International Astronomical Union - the international organization in charge of naming things - has *officially* declared Pluto a planet. A link to their announcement is below.\n\nI suspect - and I am taking an educated guess - that the new objects in the outer solar system, even though slighly larger than Pluto - won't get "official" planet status.\n\nOf course the reality is more complex, and nature doesn't always fit neatly into human classification schemes.