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rosen380 t1_j56wxso wrote

...as soon as it "clears it's neighboring region of other objects". :)

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twurbster OP t1_j56yn65 wrote

Will it ever clear it’s neighboring region of other objects?

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GiraffeWithATophat t1_j56zfky wrote

No, the other object in question is Neptune, which is much larger than pluto. Neptune would eat pluto right up.

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Captain_Slime t1_j56z5a1 wrote

Extremely unlikely because it crosses Neptune's path.

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twurbster OP t1_j570fda wrote

What does that make Neptune if it cannot pull in Pluto?

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joedimer t1_j574swu wrote

Neptune and Pluto are pretty much never any where near each other so Neptune can’t clear Pluto. Plus Pluto is on a different plane than the rest of the solar system. Neptune is like 8000 time more massive than Pluto so it would most definitely clear it if they ever ran into each other, it’s just that they never have and likely never will.

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Captain_Slime t1_j570v7d wrote

That's a good question and I actually don't know the answer, I hope someone who knows more can answer.

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Bawfuls t1_j56z0bn wrote

I am also interested in the answer to this question

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rba22 t1_j56wrhg wrote

Do you mean will it be a planet again? Because it was once recognized as a planet.

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GodzlIIa t1_j570lr5 wrote

Thats the difference between "would it ever be recognized as a planet again" vs "will it ever be a planet again". It was NEVER a planet based on current definitions, but it was called a planet in the past.

Is OP asking if definitions might change calling it a planet, or is op asking will it somehow fit current definitions in the future.

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twurbster OP t1_j571np4 wrote

Based on the definition of a planet currently, I am asking if Pluto will ever be able to fit that description of a planet. Even if it takes a billion years or so.

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brohamsontheright t1_j56z7bf wrote

I like to think that if Pluto works and and believes in itself, it can one day become anything it wants!!!!!!

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GiraffeWithATophat t1_j5702dw wrote

If we ever change our technical definition of a "planet" then it could be recognized as one again.

Regarding your second edit, you can kind of think of it that way. The moon orbits the earth like pluto orbits the sun. However for it to be called a "moon" the object needs to be orbiting something other than a star.

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twurbster OP t1_j570kg1 wrote

So it’s really just a cool controversial asteroid?

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Dont____Panic t1_j5756gj wrote

They’ve created a class of object called a minor planet. It’s large enough to pull itself into a sphere, but it has an odd orbit, and hasn’t cleared its local area.

It is, however, quite different from an asteroid like Vesta which are oblong and in a “belt” of other objects.

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twurbster OP t1_j575izj wrote

Thank you. It’s starting to make sense, this question was a lot deeper than I thought. Is minor the same as dwarf?

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mikevago t1_j570ibs wrote

I just wrote a kids' book about the solar system, and my take is that it's not that Pluto isn't a planet. It's that we now have so many planets we need multiple categories for them, and Pluto absolutely fits better into the "dwarf planet" category than the "rocky/inner planet" category.

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mcvoid1 t1_j571wp9 wrote

I have some questions that need to be answered.

  • Should Ceres be a planet? It's the largest asteroid in the asteroid belt (by a very wide margin) and is round, and about 9.1 × 10^20 kg. (Pluto is 1.30900 × 10^22 kg, so only about 10x bigger)
  • Should Eris be a planet? It's the largest object in the Kuiper belt that we know of. It's also round, and is bigger than Pluto (1.67 × 10^22 kg, so like 25% bigger than Pluto)

Really what's going on is that there's kind of four "zones" of planetoids.

  • The rocky planet zone
  • The inner asteroid belt (where Ceres is)
  • The gas giant zone
  • The outer asteroid belt (where Eris and Pluto are)

The definition of planet makes it that it basically rules out the two asteroid belts because who knows where to draw the line between what in there is a planet and what isn't a planet.

So if we're including the stuff in those two zones, where should the line be drawn?

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twurbster OP t1_j574ugf wrote

Regarding the last two paragraphs, I understand now. Basically I can view Pluto however I want to.

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AduroTri t1_j56yau3 wrote

It WAS a planet. But it's now a dwarf planet. Technically it can still be seen as a planet though.

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Jorgen_Pakieto t1_j56wtz7 wrote

No because it is smaller than the earths moon

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rosen380 t1_j56xlnc wrote

That isn't part of the reason it was "downgraded" to dwarf planet though... per the IAU these are the requirements:

  1. It is in orbit around the Sun.
  2. It has sufficient mass to assume hydrostatic equilibrium (a nearly round shape).
  3. It has “cleared the neighborhood” around its orbit.

Pluto meets the first two, just not the third.

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rickny0 t1_j56y7nr wrote

IMO Pluto lost its status because astronomers kept discovering more Pluto-sized objects orbiting the sun and they didn’t want to add a bunch of new planets. (Eris · Ceres · Haumea · Makemake)

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alanz01 t1_j56yxqx wrote

I would totally be on board with having more planets. Those darn astronomers!

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Dahnlor t1_j5716jp wrote

Nitpick: Ceres is in the Asteroid Belt and was discovered in 1801. Its discovery was not unlike that of Pluto, and it was considered to be a planet until after several other asteroids were discovered.

Pluto's discovery and eventual recategorization was pretty much the same situation, except that every new Kuiper Belt Object wasn't being counted as another new planet. When Eris was discovered, which is larger than Pluto, it forced the IAU's hand in creating an actual definition for "planet".

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menezesja t1_j570hpk wrote

Since it hasn't cleared it's orbit in the last million years it probably won't do it in the next few

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space-ModTeam t1_j570lod wrote

Hello u/twurbster, your submission "Will Pluto ever be a planet?" has been removed from r/space because:

  • Such questions should be asked in the "All space questions" thread stickied at the top of the sub.

Please read the rules in the sidebar and check r/space for duplicate submissions before posting. If you have any questions about this removal please message the r/space moderators. Thank you.

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