Be like Pluto.
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The problem with recognizing Pluto is that Eris, Haumea, Makemake, Gonggong, Quaoar, Sedna, Ceres, Orcus, and perhaps also Salacia also should probably be included, and that makes for a nightmare of a mnemonic. As we all know, classification is decided on mnemonic plausibility.
Yet Mercury is in the same category as Jupiter...as though they are similar in any way. "Planet" is one of the few times science has decided to change something for the sole purpose of keeping the Earth important in its classification. I suppose we could not have 15 or 20 or 40 planets because that would be confusing...yet we have almost 1000 moons. It is ONLY because it is the Earth's classification...no other reason. It doesn't make anything easier or less confusing.
They could have easily made mercury, pluto, and a dozen others dwarf planets, Venus Earth and Mars terrestrial planets and the others gas planets... but that would demote Earth.
Weird left over geocentrism remaining in science like it's the 1300s.
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Problem is that it doesn't really circles but ellipses.
Every planet ellipses.
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The problem with recognizing Pluto is that Eris, Haumea, Makemake, Gonggong, Quaoar, Sedna, Ceres, Orcus, and perhaps also Salacia also should probably be included, and that makes for a nightmare of a mnemonic. As we all know, classification is decided on mnemonic plausibility.
The problem with recognizing Pluto is that Eris, Haumea, Makemake, Gonggong, Quaoar, Sedna, Ceres, Orcus, and perhaps also Salacia also should probably be included
If one uses diameter as the cutoff, then Pluto is larger than all of those.
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It’s only a problem when you reach a certain level of astronomical knowledge. 99% of us don’t and won’t give a shit and think the people who decided Pluto’s no longer a planet are simply assholes.
All adults know what a “grandfather clause” is and are capable of applying that to Pluto.
Pluto is and will always be Hot Shit.
To be fair, they could actually be assholes.
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The problem with recognizing Pluto is that Eris, Haumea, Makemake, Gonggong, Quaoar, Sedna, Ceres, Orcus, and perhaps also Salacia also should probably be included
If one uses diameter as the cutoff, then Pluto is larger than all of those.
Nah, the cutoff is "is it mostly spherical due to its own gravity?" and "has it cleared its orbit from other bodies?"
Pluto is massive enough to be spherical but did not clear its orbit from other bodies. Now its the head of its own family, the dwarf-planets.
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The problem with recognizing Pluto is that Eris, Haumea, Makemake, Gonggong, Quaoar, Sedna, Ceres, Orcus, and perhaps also Salacia also should probably be included
If one uses diameter as the cutoff, then Pluto is larger than all of those.
Indeed, but Eris is only marginally smaller and a fair bit more massive, and the latter is generally more important in categorization.
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My Very Educated Mother's Cousin Just Served Us Nine Outstanding Pizzas - (Somehow,) Her Quiche Might Get Officially Surpassed
Now, you only have to remember that Makemake and Orcus are in the Kuiper belt (past Neptune's orbit), and that maybe that Salacia is optional, and you can puzzle out the two repeated letters.
I spent too long on this.
...where's eris?..
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The current classification is a mess.
IMO, it should be a planet iff it can hold an atmosphere. I.e., it doesn't actually have to have an atmosphere, but if it had any, it should have enough surface gravity to hold that one.
If you define it that way, Pluto is just barely a planet.
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“Pluto is not a planet”
“What is it then?”
“It’s a dwarf planet”
“A dwarf what?”
“Planet”
“So it’s a planet”
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The current classification is a mess.
IMO, it should be a planet iff it can hold an atmosphere. I.e., it doesn't actually have to have an atmosphere, but if it had any, it should have enough surface gravity to hold that one.
If you define it that way, Pluto is just barely a planet.
So whatever hypothetical density constitutes an atmosphere becomes the arbitrary line in the sand.
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...where's eris?..
"Educated"
We eliminated Earth by accident.
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It’s only a problem when you reach a certain level of astronomical knowledge. 99% of us don’t and won’t give a shit and think the people who decided Pluto’s no longer a planet are simply assholes.
All adults know what a “grandfather clause” is and are capable of applying that to Pluto.
Pluto is and will always be Hot Shit.
wrote last edited by [email protected]the people who decided Pluto’s no longer a planet
Yes. Fuck Mike Brown. I don't know why many people still let him dictate what to think of as a planet. The concept of "planet" is entirely man-made and doesn't follow any god given or universal criteria. While some astronomers argue that our moon is a planet too, the current criteria would even de-classify earth as a planet, should it get knocked out of our solar system.
I see Pluto as a Planet, and have yet to see a good argument against it.
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So whatever hypothetical density constitutes an atmosphere becomes the arbitrary line in the sand.
Well, yeah. But even so, it's still better than the current definition. Many "planets" have not, in fact, cleared their orbit.
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The problem with recognizing Pluto is that Eris, Haumea, Makemake, Gonggong, Quaoar, Sedna, Ceres, Orcus, and perhaps also Salacia also should probably be included, and that makes for a nightmare of a mnemonic. As we all know, classification is decided on mnemonic plausibility.
Pluto and the others are planets even without including them all in the mnemonic. The mnemonic is for the first 9 planets, just like you only remember the first few digits of pi.
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...where's eris?..
Not too much, what's eris you?
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Well, yeah. But even so, it's still better than the current definition. Many "planets" have not, in fact, cleared their orbit.
Planet has never been very well delineated. The Sun was a "planet". Ceres was a "planet".
When we find enough things to break up the classification, we make a new classification. Like "asteroid" or "dwarf planet" or "gas giant".
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Pluto and the others are planets even without including them all in the mnemonic. The mnemonic is for the first 9 planets, just like you only remember the first few digits of pi.
wrote last edited by [email protected]Pluto was not the first 9th planet. Then again we were up to 13(?) at one point.
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The good thing about Pluto is it's a planet whether you believe in it or not.
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The good thing about Pluto is it's a planet whether you believe in it or not.
What are your thoughts on Ceres?
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The problem with recognizing Pluto is that Eris, Haumea, Makemake, Gonggong, Quaoar, Sedna, Ceres, Orcus, and perhaps also Salacia also should probably be included, and that makes for a nightmare of a mnemonic. As we all know, classification is decided on mnemonic plausibility.
wrote last edited by [email protected]Yeah, there never was an option to keep 9 planets. It was either 8, all of which are already familiar, or many many more. And they wouldn't all be added neatly at the end either. Removing Pluto was the sensible choice.
