Demotion of Pluto: Dwarf Planet Essays

Many issues have arisen from the debate whether or not Pluto is a planet. Some astronomers say that Pluto should be classified as a “minor planet” due to its size, physical characteristics, and other factors. On the other hand, some astronomers defend Pluto’s planet status, citing several key features.

Astronomers now label Pluto as a “dwarf planet” because it does not meet all of the criteria to be a planet. It is also not alone in its orbit; it is part of a wide group of small-scale objects that have been detected revolving around the Sun beyond Neptune.

Neil DeGrasse Tyson wrote The Pluto Files: The Rise and Fall of America’s Favorite Planet to examine why Pluto ought not to be considered a planetary body and instead a dwarf planet or Kuiper Belt Object.

In the outer limits of our solar system there is a planet unlike any other, Pluto. Pluto was discovered in February of 1930 by an American astronomer, Clyde Tombaugh. It is the only planet to have been discovered by an American. All though we have known of the existence of Pluto for over thirty years now, there are still many mysteries surrounding this celestial body. Being the farthest planet has made it difficult to study Pluto, Adding to the obscurity of this strange planet is that the capability to send spacecraft such distances has never been achieved. Through the wonders of science and astronomy, there are many things that can be determined, concluded, and hypothesized about this obscure planet.

Pluto is very popular in the world and there is a lot of conversation on whether or not it should be considered a planet. Its size and unusual orbit are two factors that make it part of the dwarf family.

Today Pluto is now known as an icy gaseous white dwarf planet and is the second largest white dwarf planet with Eris being the largest. My submission will support my argument that Pluto should not be classified as a Planet or a Small Solar System Body, but a Dwarf Planet as classified in 2006, by the International Astronomical Union. First, the physical characteristics of Pluto support that Pluto has been properly reclassified as a dwarf planet. Pluto's density and size are much smaller than all other planets, as studies have confirmed that Pluto's width is 1582 miles long and the length is 1400 miles long and its mass is less than 0.024% of the planet earth.

The New Horizons space mission taught astronomers a lot about Pluto that cannot be seen with any telescope on Earth. For example, “this fascinating world has blue skies, spinning moons, …. And it snows - but the snow is red” (“Solar System Exploration: Pluto: In Depth.”). In addition to this, astronomers also discovered that Pluto had more moons than they originally thought.

I chose Pluto for this project because it seemed like an unpopular, but interesting subject. At first, I wanted to do the whole solar system, but I figured the explanations of each planet wouldn’t do them justice, because there are so many things to say about them. Also, the paper would most likely end up being fairly longer than necessary. After further thought, I figured Pluto would be the best subject for me, considering I did not know much about the so called planet that was removed from our solar system. I had a lot of research to do on the tiny dwarf.

This week’s Core Friday was not a lecture, but a documentary named The Pluto Files, which was coordinated by one of Core’s co-coordinator, Tom Hothem. The purpose documentary was that Pluto lacked a well-defined criteria to determine if it was or was not a planet. The documentary followed Neil Tyson as he traveled to different states in finding out the truth and views about Pluto being a planet and not a planet. There were many controversies about this topic when it was concluded that Pluto would no longer be considered a planet. This issue relates to how we must evaluate the Drake Equation in the Quantitative Essay. It connects because both lack a well-defined criteria that allow us to determine what is and what is not. It makes us question

Pluto is the ninth planet in Earth's solar system. However, throughout the years, Pluto has had many differing views on it. Some believe that it isn't a planet at all, since it does not meet all 3 classifications of a planet (Williams Dwarf). On the other hand many scientists do still classify Pluto as a planet. Looking past all of the controversy, Pluto still has a remarkable history in astronomy.

Reporters with interest in Pluto have published many articles related to the matter of whether Pluto should be considered a planet. Many are opposing the opinion that Pluto should not be considered a planet as the third condition is very vague. For instance, the Earth’s neighbourhood could be considered as not cleared out as the moon is following it around; Jupiter is continuously having contact with asteroids named Trojans, and Neptune’s orbit crosses over with Pluto’s orbit. The Guardian stated in one of it’s articles that Pluto should not have a ban from being a planet due to its small size. IAU, however, has not made any regards on this criticism. These opposing views about Pluto may be correct in a way; however, factually speaking, Pluto is still not considered as a planet as IAU has not made any changes towards its definition of the word,

As i was growing up all my science teachers will always say that there was 9 planets in our solar system. But as time went by, little by little the 9 planets started fading, now in days there still debating whether considering Pluto a planet or not. According to scientists, pluto does not meet the standards that fall under the category to be a “planet”. Pluto has many features that they considered to be a dwarf planet like: its large distance from the sun, that it doesn't have its own orbit, its temperature is extremely cold, all these facts are the reason why many people are still debating pluto's status. Pluto was found by Clyde Tombaugh, an astronomer from the United States in 1930.

The discussion was more of a debate since some students agreed on Pluto being a planet while others did not. It seems that humans can’t agree on things unless we have more evidence, then we will know how Pluto might be classified. Or perhaps the question of Pluto’s planet hood will be answered if given a new point of view. For instance, someone suggested that there could be different species of planets, like there are different species of plants and animals. 2)

Internal Summary/Preview: After discussing the discovery of “Planet X” through the beliefs of Percival Lowell and the actual finding done by Clyde Tombaugh, we will shift to discussing how “Planet X” got the name Pluto.

Since ancient times, the universe had captivated people’s imagination and curiosity. With the limitation on technology, early sky watchers were only capable of classifying objects they observed as either a star or a planet. During the twentieth century, with advancement in telescopes to see further into space with more accurate details, scientists were able to find numerous stars and planet like objects within the solar system. Scientists had no trouble classifying objects such as Uranus and Neptune as planets. However, the real trouble came when they discovered a planetary object called Ceres. Objects like Ceres and Pluto behaved similarly to regular planets. Because of the limitations on the technology at the time, it was very difficult