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demotion of pluto
demotion of pluto
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The controversy of Pluto can be observed from two different perspectives, the scientific way and from the eyes
of the public audience. Towards scientists despite that the solar system is exactly the same as it was in 2006, the
demotion of Pluto resulted into a less vague definition of the word "Planet" and lead to a step forward in the life of
science and technology. Although Pluto has many characteristics that make up a planet, it did not meet the
requirements of the new definition of the word "Planet" that was proposed by the IAU. Those characteristics were, it
orbits around the sun, has sufficient mass to assume hydrostatic equilibrium and has cleared the neighbourhood
around its orbit. However, the demotion of Pluto caused a lot of arguments and debates between Astronomers.
Astronomers in favour of that decision thought it was a revolution of science and the way it should be approached.
It wasn't until 2005 when Mike Brown discovered the "Kuiper Belt" which was said to be bigger than Pluto and
the doubts about Pluto being considered as a planet raised. Regardless of the amount of astronomers who agreed
about the demotion, a percentage of those scientists thought that word "Planet" is too vague. Still, having
subcategories such as "Gas Giants", "Terrestrial Planets (Pluto being one of them)" and "Asteroids". They also
thought that Pluto belonged there (Dwarf Planets) and it would more interesting to study it in that way. For instance,
some scientists though that this was a chance to teach kids that this is the nature of science. Things are always
changing so does our thoughts of how the solar system works.
On the other hand, many more astronomers disagreed on this situation which lead to a couple of
protests be...
... middle of paper ...
... try to analyse how good
they covered the topic, you'll find that the topic was ignored unless it involved the public in it. Compared to
Space.com which always had topics related to Pluto and recently in 2012, they released a new article about a new
moon orbiting Pluto. I guess the message that has been given to the public had a key role on the broader view of
science in people's eyes. It gave kids, the new generation of this new world the chance to explore new things and
discover new things to understand the truth behind this solar system. Also giving them the authority to modify the
past if it was wrong as long as it would make people more aware of the truth and improve their knowledge and lives.
It also clarifies any doubts about science not having its own authority and that its allowed to do whatever they want
unless it improves the life style of people.
Pluto has a radius of 1184km while Mercury, the smallest current planet, has a radius of 2440km. This appears to be a huge difference, but they are quite close in size when it is taken into consideration that Jupiter has a radius of 64911km. [3] The fact that Mercury is considered to be a planet, but Pluto is considered to small is a result of the fact that planets are generally thought to be large objects, but no official size requirement has ever been defined. The fact is that any definition based on size will be arbitrary, so the problem exists of picking a cutoff. Tim DeBenedictis proposes a very reasonable solution to this problem. He proposes that we set the cutoff for planetary size at 1000km. [3] This is as arbitrary as any other number, but picking 1000km has benefits. Firstly, this fits well with the fact that we use base 10 in mathematics. This also makes the number of planets 10 with Pluto and Eris being added to the eight that we currently have. This results in a reasonable and concrete limit on the size of
When Copernicus discovered the earth revolved around the sun it changed science and human perception forever. Earth had been believed to be the center of the universe for 12 centuries. This idea was profound and not accepted well at first. Copernicus was ridiculed and scorned for his novel ideas at the time, but, eventually he was vindicated with his published work De Revolutionibus Orbium Coelesium. When Copernicus finally received recognition with a published manuscript of his revolutionary work he was seventy years old, most likely on his death bed, and it was 1543. Other scientists and explorers of the time weren’t so lucky. Scientists of his day that eluded to the idea that the universe and its inhabitants might have a scientific origin and not a necessarily religious one were at risk of being tortured or executed. One courageous soul who risked life and limb in the name of science was Andreas Vesalius who, like Copernicus, turned the scientific world on its head with his work De Humanis Corporis Fabrica.
“That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind,” were the now famous and iconic words or Neil Armstrong as he became the first man to set foot on Earth’s moon. The advanced research mankind has made to further their understanding of the vast, astronomical unknown of space has opened up numerous doors of opportunity to fathom the universe, but not without drastic repercussions.
Pluto is smaller than Earth's Moon, Jupiter's moons Io, Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto, Saturn's moon Titan, and Neptune's moon Triton. On the other hand, Pluto is larger than the other 40 known moons in the solar system. There is no scientific reason to arbitrarily dis...
Although Pluto was discovered in 1930, limited information on the distant planet delayed a realistic understanding of its characteristics. Today Pluto remains the only planet that has not been visited by a spacecraft, yet an increasing amount of information is unfolding about this peculiar planet. The uniqueness of Pluto's orbit, rotational relationship with its satellite, spin axis, and light variations all give the planet a certain appeal.
2,870,990,000 km (19.218 AU) from the Sun, Uranus hangs on the wall of space as a mysterious blue green planet. With a mass of 8.683e25 kg and a diameter of 51,118 km at the equator, Uranus is the third largest planet in our solar system. It has been described as a planet that was slugged a few billion years ago by a large onrushing object, knocked down (never to get up), and now proceeds to roll around an 84-year orbit on its belly. As the strangest of the Jovian planets, the description is accurate. Uranus has a 17 hour and 14 minute day and takes 84 years to make its way about the sun with an axis tilted at around 90° with retrograde rotation. Stranger still is the fact that Uranus' axis is almost parallel to the ecliptic, hence the expression "on its belly".
During the mid-19th century, astronomers and stargazers began to question whether or not Neptune was the final planet in our solar system. Many people believed that the only explanation for certain discrepancies seen in the orbital patterns of Neptune and Uranus had to be caused by an undiscovered celestial body that had enough power to impact these two planets. After years of searching for the famous mystery planet, Pluto was discovered by Clyde Tombaugh at the Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona. ‘It was given the name Pluto by an eleven year old girl from England who made the suggestion that it be named after the Greek ruler of the underworld’ (Solarsystem.nasa.gov). Although many people were thrilled about the discovery of a new planet
While most of the hype surrounding space is around Mars and Planet X these days, don't forget about Pluto. Sure, it may not be a planet anymore but it still has its fair share of surprises. The latest of these came by way of NASA's New Horizon's probe which may have found an alien X-ray emitting from the area.
When Galileo created his telescope and aimed it towards Jupiter, not only did he have the first view of something beyond the Earth, but his discovery proved that there was more to the night sky than the small pricks of light from distant stars. Before Galileo, the Earth was thought to be the center of the universe, and the size of the universe was incomprehensible. Galileo’s discovery that moons orbited Jupiter meant that the geocentric view of space was not right. Everything did not orbit the Earth. This discovery paved the way for the Copernican Revolution. As telescopes became more advanced, scientists were able to learn even more about space and the bodies that inhabit it. More galaxies, planets, and other celestial formations were discovered. The composition and location of stars could be figured out. Unlocking the secrets of the universe also allowed scientists to learn more about the Earth.
In conclusion this article was extremely informative and very easy to read. This article bettered my understanding in the universal expansion and proved to me how we need to be more diligent and careful with our planet. We need to support NASA so that we can continue to advance our science and technology to be able to understand even more the reasons for universal expansion.
Expansion into space and the colonization of other planets became the focus of the entire race. For the next twenty years, space exploration was conducted by every major nation. Every journey, unfortunately, returned in failure. If we had more time or had begun sooner, perhaps we would have succeeded."
Pluto’s discovery was actually a fortunate accident. Clyde Tombaugh was searching for a ninth planet to explain inconsistencies in the orbits of Neptune and Uranus. Once further research was done regarding Pluto it was determined that the size of Pluto was too small to account for the irregularities of the orbits. Astronomers continued to search for a tenth planet, “Planet X.” The calculations that made scientists to believe this have since been proven incorrect by the Voyager 2. With the more accurate mass of Neptune that Voyager 2 was able to produce, the discrepancies of the orbit were explained. It is no longer believed that there is a tenth planet.
Pluto is located 7.5 billion kilometers from Earth and is only over 2,000 km in diameter. Pluto has been labeled both a planet and a dwarf planet over the years. As said by USA Today, “a planet is a celestial body that: is in orbit around the sun, is round or nearly round, and has "cleared the neighborhood" around its orbit, meaning it is not surrounded by objects of similar size and characteristics.” Pluto only follows two of the three rules of a planet. Pluto crosses over Neptune’s orbit and is near other dwarf planets like it. Even though it breaks one rule it was officially named a dwarf planet in “August 2006”, as stated by the Library of Congress. After this event Pluto still only has one correct classification. Pluto is a planet because
Much to the dismay of the Church, two astronomers Galileo and Kepler had the audacity to challenge the authorities by suggesting that the sun-not the earth-was at the center of the universe. The church had a stronghold on the way the spiritual and physical world worked, so these discoveries only added to the Church’s resistance to their aims. Their discoveries came only after Kepler and Galileo began to question ancient theories about how the world functioned. These ancient truths were widely held but were inconsistent with the new observations that they had made. Kepler had discovered the laws of planetary motion which suggested that the planet would move in elliptical orbits, while Galileo followed with his discovery of the principle of inertia. Galileo concluded his finding b...
Even though we know a great amount more than the astronomers in the past, there is still an even larger amount we do not know about the universe to this day. Even our own solar system contains many questions yet to be answered. Some of these include the possibility of a planet beyond Pluto (Planet X), the means by which the system was created, and even the possibility of a sister star to the Sun named Nemesis. Another astronomical mystery is the creation of the universe. In time, many questions will be answered but some will always remain. Astronomy is something that will never be completely understood.