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Pluto is still a planet, just a dwarf one 20th Century History 21st Century History (thelemmy.club)
submitted 5 months ago by to c/historymemes@piefed.social
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[–] 28 points 5 months ago (18 children)

I like to imagine the alternative world, where instead of deplanetizing Pluto, they planetized all the dwarf planets and planetoids in our system.

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  • [–] 12 points 5 months ago (5 children)

    The Earth's Moon is about 1.5 times bigger than Pluto.

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  • [–] 9 points 5 months ago (11 children)

    If that happened, then school children would no longer be required to learn the names of all of the planets. That's just a practical concern with adding another several dozen planets to the list.

    And I think it is worthwhile to make kids learn the names and some basic facts about the 8 planets we have.

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  • [–] 10 points 5 months ago (2 children)

    Did you ever have to memorize the periodic table? This would be a walk in the park by comparison, at least using the current dwarf planet definition.

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  • [–] 5 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (1 child)

    It's a grade school vs high school thing though. Also only our AP chem class had to memorize the entire table. Knowing the first 20-40 was sufficient for everyone else.

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  • [–] 1 point 5 months ago (7 children)

    How many could there be?

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  • [–] 9 points 5 months ago (6 children)

    Officially only 4 trans-Neptunian objects have been recognized as dwarf planets. But here's a paper that proposes another 36 known objects to be dwarf planets.

    That's about what the situation was in 2006 as well. A new technology was worked out to make it easier to find these, and once it did a bunch of discoveries came in really fast. The writing was definitely on the wall.

    If you include the entire Oort cloud, there could be billions of objects out there.

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  • [–] 5 points 5 months ago (2 children)

    I think that’s so cool!

    I wonder what they’re like (I’m sure the answer is cold and rocky, but still!)

    We need more deities!

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  • [–] 2 points 5 months ago (2 children)

    I thought dwarf planets still had to be round, and they just lack the "cleared its orbit" requirement (e.g. Ceres in the asteroid belt). That would disqualify any Oort cloud objects except Pluto and Charon as far as I know.

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  • [–] 4 points 5 months ago (1 child)

    It's true. Dwarf planets do have to be round ("in hydrostatic equilibrium"). That requirement will definitely disqualify many of the hypothetical billions of Oort cloud objects.

    Ceres is an official dwarf planet, but I excluded it from my list because I was focusing on trans-Neptunians.

    A big reason why the IAU hasn't confirmed most of the 36 is because they want strong evidence of roundness, like a spacecraft flyby with direct imaging. Pluto and Eris are close enough that earth telescopes can just barely resolve some of their shapes.

    Finally, Pluto and Charon are too close to be considered in the Oort cloud. Sedna, whose discovery precipitated a lot of this crisis, has been nominated as the very first discovered object in the "inner Oort cloud." Sedna's perihelion is at 76 AU.

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  • [–] 2 points 5 months ago*

    Oops, right -- Pluto and Charon are in the Kuiper Belt, not the Oort Cloud. I really shouldn't mix those up.

    I thought Haumea, Eris, and Makemake were solidly considered dwarf planets. But we don't have good images of those, do we?

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    • [–] 16 points 5 months ago

    Gus: “That’s messed up, right?”

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    [–] 13 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (1 child)

    I've said it before and I'll say it again: I'm not concerned with Pluto's feelings. If it's too small, has an irregular orbit, hasn't cleared its immediate vicinity, etc., then fine, it doesn't meet the objective standards by which we're going to define planets going forward, that's totally acceptable.

    But saying that a dwarf planet isn't a planet is just bad etymology. It's got the word planet right in there, but it's not a planet? That's super confusing for the casual user.

    Planetoid, on the other hand, had been in common use for literally decades, and it makes perfectly good etymological sense. Asteroid = star-like, because if you're not careful you might mistake it for a star. Planetoid = planet-like, for the same reason.

    I don't want justice for Pluto, I want justice for linguistic clarity!

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    • [–] 13 points 5 months ago (2 children)

    This is outrageous. It's unfair!

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    • [–] 9 points 5 months ago

    Didn't even the poor guy finish a whole victory lmao around the sun either

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    [–] 8 points 5 months ago

    Pluto is not sentient. It cares not for the judgement of men.

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    [–] 7 points 5 months ago (3 children)

    Pluto never changed, we did

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    • [–] 7 points 5 months ago (4 children)

    why do so many people care that some big rock had its category of big rock changed…

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  • [–] 1 point 5 months ago

    People care about things not because of some intrinsic value, but because of our relationship to them.

    We love our pets, and don't really care about food animals. We are upset when a friend is in an accident, but not about people who died 500 years ago. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

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    • [+] 8 points 5 months ago (2 children)
    [deleted]
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  • [–] 1 point 5 months ago*

    With depravity I break laws of gravity

    Blast past the atmosphere to the last frontier

    I go boldly through space and time

    The sky's the limit, but they're limiting the sky

    I break orbit by habit

    I ignite satellites and leave rings round the planets

    A flying ace like that beagle

    Nevertheless this alien remains illegal

    Cause their discovery don't cover me, the immigrants

    Been left in the cold to grow old and disintegrate

    Discriminate against the distant and disclaim this

    Cause small minds can't see past Uranus

    But I shun their rays, cause stun's just a phase

    And my odyssey runs in 2001 ways

    And I can see clearly now like Hubble

    Shoved off the shuttle, here's my rebuttal It's a planet

    Who do you represent? I represent the smallest planet

    Attorney in this tourney versus those who tried to ban it

    If you don't agree, go see Interplanet Janet

    Cause the sun is star, like Pluto is planet

    So lend me all your ears and let me state my case

    About all the types of satellites we must embrace

    Cause like parents' great-grandparents

    This planet was an immigrant; to deport it's an offense

    It's an upstanding member of the solar system

    Apply the laws of Earth and make it a victim

    Of Proposition 187

    When Pluto spawns a moon it will apply to the heavens

    I'll damn thee like Judas of Iscariot

    If you demote this mote remote to affiliate

    It's like taking ET's custody from Elliot

    Support your Lilliput, 'cause simply put

    Pluto is a planet. Pluto!

    Pluto is a planet. Pluto!

    Pluto is a planet. Pluto!

    Pluto is a planet. Pluto!

    Do it

    For the

    Children

    If not for yourself

    Pluto

    Is a

    2 Skinnee J’s - Pluto

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    • [–] 3 points 5 months ago

    I'll never forgive or forget what they did to you Pluto

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    [–] 3 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

    More like

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    [–] 3 points 5 months ago (1 child)

    Is Peter Dinklage not a human? What about Linda Hunt?

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    • [–] 3 points 5 months ago (2 children)

    How many planets are in orbit around the sun? 8
    How many planets are in the entire universe? 8, because a planet has to orbit the sun.

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  • [+] 3 points 5 months ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (2 children)
    [deleted]
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  • [–] 2 points 5 months ago (1 child)

    Pluto has completed millions of orbits around the sun.

    At the time of the IAUs release of the definition of a planet, Neptune had not completed an orbit since its discovery, and yet they still called it a planet. Clearly, this weird and arbitrary statement that you have put forth did not matter.

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  • [–] 2 points 5 months ago

    Neptune has completed one though. So Pluto is the only planet to officially not complete an orbit while it was called a planet. It doesn't affect whether it's a planet or not, it's just an interesting quiz question.

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    [–] 2 points 5 months ago

    Rock and stone!

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    [–] 2 points 5 months ago

    Way to beat a dead horse, Lemmy

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    [–] 2 points 5 months ago

    Wait until you find out what they did to Ceres!!!

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    [–] 1 point 5 months ago

    We degraded status of planet named after god of underworld... and the world started going down the drain.

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    [–] 1 point 5 months ago

    dwarves would like a word

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    [–] 1 point 5 months ago

    Dear Plato, In your perfect world of forms, what is the form of a planet. Or is this just something arbitrary we came up with.

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    [–] 1 point 5 months ago

    It didn't even get a single year

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    [–] 1 point 5 months ago* (1 child)

    I fucking hate this shit so much. THIS is what "science" means to average Americans, making posts on the internet about being emotional about how a fucking planet is or isn't classified.

    No real curiosity, or desire to understand anything. Just repeat the meme so everyone knows that you're in on the "culture"too and lol omg Pluto is a planet and that is so important to me guys.

    It's not "just fun," It's just another facet of the pervasive anti-intellectualism in this country.

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