Pluto, is it a Planet? Pluto is a planet! No, Pluto is not a planet! The science community ignored what other people had to say about why Pluto should be a planet. Yet, the discoverer classified Pluto as a planet, but the IAU ripped his finding apart, and reclassified it as a dwarf planet. Pluto lost its title "planet" due to the International Astronomical Union (IAU) definition of planet, but NASA is still receiving new information from New Horizons.
Pluto was a "planet" that wasn't discovered until 1930 by, Clyde Tombaugh. Clyde discovered this isolated, desolate planet towards the edge of our solar system at the Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona (Destination Pluto). Soon after this astonishing discovery, the new planet was named, …show more content…
The participants of the meeting made it official to demote Pluto because they thought about the definition of “planet” (Dan, Vergano). “The IAU definition of planet is that 1) it has to be orbiting the Sun; 2) has to be large enough to achieve hydrostatic equilibrium – in other words, to be spherical; and 3) able to clear out its orbit of smaller objects. It’s point number three where Pluto fails to meet as a planet (Eicher, David J.).” They also found out that Pluto’s orbit was so elongated that it cut into Neptune’s orbit, so there were times Pluto was not the ninth object orbiting our Sun, but the eight (Chown, Marcus). People were discouraged by the thought that Pluto as a dwarf planet but not a planet. An IAU appointed committee reviewed the reasons that Pluto meets two of the three criteria to become a planet. Instead of voting Pluto as a planet, they recommended unanimously that Pluto, its moon Charon, Ceres, and Eris to all be considered major planets of our solar system. Four years later, Pluto reclaimed its status as planet after a second vote by unofficial voters. After all of their work, the full IAU membership just ignored it and held a revote to have Pluto as a dwarf planet. Clyde Tombaugh (1906-1997) clearly saw this coming and became afraid that the IAU will eventually rob him of his signature discovery (Levy, David …show more content…
New Horizons finally got to begin its long journey to Pluto on January 19, 2006 (Riddle, Bob). NASA’s New Horizons mission is predetermined to arrive at the dwarf planet Pluto within the year of 2015 (Dan, Vergano). During the flyby mission, New Horizons will pass by Pluto and its five moons at the speed about 49,890 km/h (31,000 mph). New Horizons is a flyby mission and will pass so quickly, so the spacecraft will have to begin data collection in the earnest of June 2015 (Riddle, Bob). Scientist’s were socked that Pluto’s atmosphere extends at least 1,700 km (1,050 miles) above the surface. Ethylene and acetylene, which are hydrocarbon species where discovered, but only, found trace amounts during the mission. This is just a sample of the 5% of the flyby data that was sent back from the spacecraft, and it already has revolutionized our knowledge about Pluto. The remaining 95% of the flyby data is still aboard the spacecraft and won’t reach the ground until late 2016 (Stern, S. Alan). Following the flyby mission to Pluto-Charon, the New Horizons spacecraft will continue through the Kuiper Belt, with additional flybys of Kuiper Belt objects (Riddle,
Pluto was a "planet" that wasn't discovered until 1930 by, Clyde Tombaugh. Clyde discovered this isolated, desolate planet towards the edge of our solar system at the Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona (Destination Pluto). Soon after this astonishing discovery, the new planet was named, …show more content…
The participants of the meeting made it official to demote Pluto because they thought about the definition of “planet” (Dan, Vergano). “The IAU definition of planet is that 1) it has to be orbiting the Sun; 2) has to be large enough to achieve hydrostatic equilibrium – in other words, to be spherical; and 3) able to clear out its orbit of smaller objects. It’s point number three where Pluto fails to meet as a planet (Eicher, David J.).” They also found out that Pluto’s orbit was so elongated that it cut into Neptune’s orbit, so there were times Pluto was not the ninth object orbiting our Sun, but the eight (Chown, Marcus). People were discouraged by the thought that Pluto as a dwarf planet but not a planet. An IAU appointed committee reviewed the reasons that Pluto meets two of the three criteria to become a planet. Instead of voting Pluto as a planet, they recommended unanimously that Pluto, its moon Charon, Ceres, and Eris to all be considered major planets of our solar system. Four years later, Pluto reclaimed its status as planet after a second vote by unofficial voters. After all of their work, the full IAU membership just ignored it and held a revote to have Pluto as a dwarf planet. Clyde Tombaugh (1906-1997) clearly saw this coming and became afraid that the IAU will eventually rob him of his signature discovery (Levy, David …show more content…
New Horizons finally got to begin its long journey to Pluto on January 19, 2006 (Riddle, Bob). NASA’s New Horizons mission is predetermined to arrive at the dwarf planet Pluto within the year of 2015 (Dan, Vergano). During the flyby mission, New Horizons will pass by Pluto and its five moons at the speed about 49,890 km/h (31,000 mph). New Horizons is a flyby mission and will pass so quickly, so the spacecraft will have to begin data collection in the earnest of June 2015 (Riddle, Bob). Scientist’s were socked that Pluto’s atmosphere extends at least 1,700 km (1,050 miles) above the surface. Ethylene and acetylene, which are hydrocarbon species where discovered, but only, found trace amounts during the mission. This is just a sample of the 5% of the flyby data that was sent back from the spacecraft, and it already has revolutionized our knowledge about Pluto. The remaining 95% of the flyby data is still aboard the spacecraft and won’t reach the ground until late 2016 (Stern, S. Alan). Following the flyby mission to Pluto-Charon, the New Horizons spacecraft will continue through the Kuiper Belt, with additional flybys of Kuiper Belt objects (Riddle,