I was probably going to make a thread about this tonight, ya bastard. First probe specifically for Pluto. I'm excited to see what it's shows us.
But they sent it off when pluto was still a planet... its not a planet anymore so who cares. its just a giant rock floating in space.
To be honest though, Earth is just a somewhat bigger giant rock. What exactly makes something a planet is very loosely defined.
it'll be a planet as far as I'm concerned until such a time as someone comes up with a better reason than 'it's different from the others, it's too small' It's big enough that our ancient ancestors were able to spot it in space, they named it a planet, that's good enough for me. Someday some prick is going to come along and try and say the sun isn't really a star, guaranteed.
Um... sorry, wasn't ancient ancestors, it was discovered in 1930, with a telescope. Pluto was discovered in 1930 and was originally considered the ninth planet from the Sun. Its status as a planet fell into question following further study of it and the outer Solar System over the following 75 years. Starting in 1977 with the discovery of the minor planet Chiron, numerous icy objects with eccentric orbits were found.[15] The Kuiper belt was discovered in 1992 when astronomers spotted 1992 QB1 in a distant orbit beyond Neptune. The scattered disc object Eris, discovered in 2005, is 27% more massive than Pluto.[16] The knowledge that Pluto is only one of several large icy bodies in the outer Solar System prompted the International Astronomical Union (IAU) to formally define the term "planet" in 2006, which excluded Pluto and reclassified it as a member of the new "dwarf planet" category (and specifically as a plutoid).[17] Some astronomers believe Pluto should still be considered a planet.[18][19][20]
Seems like a good enough reason to me. Unless you want to start calling things like Eris the 10th planet, on a super far out orbit, and Ceres, a planet, one of the largest asteroids in the inner belt.
Like, you guys do have to remember, definitions will change, and hell, we had no examples of in-between objects of comets/asteroid size and planet sized. Until we found them. This lexicon change is a reaction to that discovery. When new species are discovered, we have to classify them(sometimes, when whole new branches are too), and this changes things. Get used to it folks, it happens quite often with science.
Sheesh.. Fine, let's call everything a planet then because people don't care to listen to how this Pluto thing has been explained like two dozen times already. So, Moon is really a planet. Nice. Jupiter has like 40 planets orbiting it. Cool. Kuiper belt could potentially have hundreds of planets. A great example of the retardation that is created and fabricated by what is known as Media. Them fuckers get a slow Monday and they start bitching about shit they don't know a single thing about. Like Pluto's status and then using all sorts of wrong beliefs and such and not even reading the press statement sent to them by International Astronomical Union. Because that's not something Media or Press does, they don't go out and do background research or check facts. They just quote each other and add layers of retardation. But fuck it if some celebrity flashed a boob, there'll be helicopters all over her ass and every channel will offer live coverage from the scene, interview shocked people and professional commentators etc. and similar events will be dug up from decades ago. Nevermind if there's something going on in the world in the meantime. By the way, english language and color orange.. Color Red Red Hair and Color Red Red Hair
It's almost more than a century, it's ancient XD. I would also like to note the word 'planet' used in it's supposed reclassification. It's a planet. And for those who can't seem to tell, I don't particularly care either way, I'm arguing because I consider the argument to be silly and therefor I argue because it is there. Must I quote Shakespeare? 'A rose by any other name...' does it really matter in the grand scheme of things? Whether Pluto falls under the name 'planet' or it doesn't really matters a hill of beans in the overall picture, people will still refer to Pluto as a planet just like people will still mistake the brontosaurus for a dinosaur. The bronto never existed, according to what we now know of the mistakes causing it's fallacy to occur, and eventually the wrinkle will get ironed out, as for Pluto, given the information we know and some of the things we suspect, it's entirely possible that Pluto was a planet that suffered a major impact splitting it into two pieces, Pluto, and Charon (and possibly it's other moons) it's also entirely possible that the primary asteroid belt of the solar system is the remains of yet another former planet, though it would be rather difficult to prove. Point is, people are familiar with the idea of Pluto being a planet in the Solar system, even redefining what constitutes a planet doesn't necessarily require removing that status, people are simply far to in love with their ideas of 'defining' the universe. If people continue calling Pluto a planet, and every other Plutoid/dwarf planet hereon is considered to not be a planet the universe isn't going to care either way, things'll keep on spinning whatever we call these things. Pluto will be a planet, and I'll continue to use the imperial system because... it doesn't matter XD
The thing is people don't consider Pluto a planet. Only some people do because they want to be ignorant and it's their choice. However, I will not defend ignorance even if it doesn't have direct impact either way on the larger Cosmos. It's still ethically correct to strive to correct mistakes and misunderstanding and to work for advancement of civilization. It's really about attitude. For instance, I was talking about ending up alone in a doomsday shelter with some guy. He said he'd shoot himself. I said that I'd at least try and wait for a chance to get to surface and search for survivors and in the meantime I might do something along the lines of engraving the final days to the shelter's walls in case they would some day be discovered. Whether you use imperial system makes no difference and has nothing to do with this unless you personally thought that it was similar stubborness as calling Pluto a full planet is. For all I care you can call asteroids planets or meteors but if people wish to have intelligible discussion on these topics they will benefit from the use of correct terminology. Ps. metrics people can also order a pint and it can be bigger than 0.5l. It depends entirely on the pub what size their pints are and how they fill them. Like any food place, are the portions small, not even filling the containers or do they put so much extra that they can't even close them? Recommendation: pick a place that you like.
Choosing not to accept someone else's argument is not ignorance, it's a choice, a decision made by an individual based on their own perceptions of what they believe to be true. Calling it ignorance is akin to arrogance, of the 'I'm right, you're wrong' variety, and ignorance of it's own to the ever present possibility that, you might be wrong. It is neither right nor wrong to make a decision that goes against the common understanding, and it is the height of arrogance to claim it is a duty to correct another person's view of the world, that is at the root of most conflicts throughout history, misunderstandings would be a lot less damning if people wouldn't assume that the other was ignorant because they don't accept -their- definition of how things are. You're right, terminology is useful for conveying information, but language is vague for that very reason quite frequently, noone understands everything exactly the same way, even a group of kids taught by the same teacher in the same classroom under the same conditions will come out with different understandings of some things, major or minor, yet they'll still be able to communicate with each other and most others taught the same information even worlds away. Even language isn't always a barrier, when you have a common ground. I simply used the metric/imperial system because whatever I believe, many people around the world would say it falls under that category. I'm not saying you shouldn't attempt to inform someone mind, just that, having done so, accept the decision they come to. Even if you believe it to be wrong, you've alleviated whatever potential ignorance you could with knowledge and now it's up to them to come to a conclusion. (within reason of course, if they decide that they're going to call Pluto a planet and they're going to actively hunt down the astronomers who argue different you might want to notify the authorities... if you feel they're being serious XD)
