November 23, 2010

Pluto to be a planet again?

Here's a story to ponder. Did you know that last year, Pluto was no longer a planet in our solar system? I'm sure most of you heard about this, but did you know that one, they are considering in revoking that claim. It seems that scientist can't make up their mind on this.

So here's a brief history of why they decided to demote Pluto as a planet. Scientist recently discover Iris, an icy but bigger body of ice further than Pluto. This (although painful to admit) made the scientist to a conclusion that there maybe more icy "planet" outside of Pluto, and thus the decision to make Pluto a dwarf planet, not a full planet.

To understand what a planet is, scientist has come with a description, A body that circles the sun without being some other object's satellite, is large enough to be rounded by its own gravity (but not so big that it begins to undergo nuclear fusion, like a star) and has "cleared its neighborhood" of most other orbiting bodies. That is a planet.

However, recently, when they recalculate the size of Iris (the planet further than Pluto) it is now said to be even more smaller than previously thought, almost the same size as Pluto. So now they reconsidering the fact. Another reason why they reconsidering this is because of what the word "planet" really represent.

Now they are saying that the term planet, as stated above cannot be use anymore, since it shows that no planet on our solar system is consider a planet if they follow the term strictly.

For more info on this, read more about it here.

No comments: