# And then there were eight: Pluto no longer a planet **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [August 24, 2006, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-then-there-were-eight-pluto-no-longer-a-planet/370036 "2006-08-24T14:05:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2006, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-then-there-were-eight-pluto-no-longer-a-planet/370036/41 "2006-08-24T19:00:16Z")
Everybody join me in the official science fiction yell of despair. Remember to throw your arms out and your head back: PLUTOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!! ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2006, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-then-there-were-eight-pluto-no-longer-a-planet/370036/42 "2006-08-24T19:28:42Z")
Am I the only one not disappointed by this decision? Pluto is an Oort object, not a planet. It has a strange orbit, is extremely small and a funky twin. I have been expecting Pluto to be downgraded for years. I have even taught my daughter that Pluto was not really a planet and wait a few years and it will finally be official. I guess we are much closer now. Jim ---
**Author:** ![Cluricaun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/bb73d2/32.png) [@Cluricaun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cluricaun)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2006, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-then-there-were-eight-pluto-no-longer-a-planet/370036/43 "2006-08-24T19:36:00Z")
[QUOTE=Ace309] Morgan Veronica Ellis! Make Juicy, Sexy Undulations! **Now!!!** [/QUOTE] You might or might not want to Google the name Morgan Ellis and see what link comes up first. Googling is work safe, clicking on link is probably not. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2006, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-then-there-were-eight-pluto-no-longer-a-planet/370036/44 "2006-08-24T19:39:43Z")
[QUOTE=Cluricaun] You might or might not want to Google the name Morgan Ellis and see what link comes up first. Googling is work safe, clicking on link is probably not. :eek: [/QUOTE] :: blink :: I was so there until I read the word ‘dominatrix’. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![PunditLisa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/4af34b/32.png) [@PunditLisa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PunditLisa)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2006, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-then-there-were-eight-pluto-no-longer-a-planet/370036/45 "2006-08-24T19:53:36Z")
Was Ralph Nader on the ballot? I’ll bet the voters were confused. I demand a recount!!! ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2006, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-then-there-were-eight-pluto-no-longer-a-planet/370036/46 "2006-08-24T20:03:23Z")
[QUOTE=What Exit?] Am I the only one not disappointed by this decision? [/QUOTE] Nope. The prospect of having to add another 10 or 50 ‘planets’ to the solar system over the next few decades struck me as a route to diluting the meaning of the word to nothingness. ---
**Author:** ![Only\_Mostly\_Dead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/f19dbf/32.png) [@Only\_Mostly\_Dead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Only_Mostly_Dead)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2006, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-then-there-were-eight-pluto-no-longer-a-planet/370036/47 "2006-08-24T20:16:42Z")
Well, I’ll always have _Sports Night_’s “Ordnance Tactics” [episode](http://sportsnight.tktv.net/Episodes1/quotes/20.html) > [@](#): > > “Good news.” -Natalie > “What?” -Dana > “Pluto’s still a planet.” -Natalie > “It was touch and go there for a while?” -Sally > “Don’t underestimate Pluto. Pluto doesn’t know the word quit.” -Natalie ---
**Author:** ![Not\_A\_Tame\_Lion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/e36b37/32.png) [@Not\_A\_Tame\_Lion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Not_A_Tame_Lion)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2006, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-then-there-were-eight-pluto-no-longer-a-planet/370036/48 "2006-08-24T20:22:15Z")
What bugs me about this is, the move to reclassify Pluto seems to be based on the notion that Pluto is no different from any other Kuiper Belt object. My question is, how do they know that? Very little effort has been made to study Pluto in any kind of detail. Understandable because of the distance involved, but nevertheless it leaves us working from a wealth of ignorance. We don’t really know what Pluto is all about, and won’t know at least until a probe makes its way there. (Much as there were many things about the Jovian moons that were only discovered when the Voyagers passed by; ground based observations didn’t reveal anything about the vulcanism on Io, for instance.) Also, if Pluto is no different from any other KBO, why did Tombaugh discover it and not one of those other objects? Just dumb luck, or is there a difference there that made it more discoverable? Remember, some of the other KBO’s were only discovered recently, despite the fact that when Pluto was discovered, and in the ensuing 80 some years, plenty of folks were looking for the so-called Planet X. Bottom line: this decision seems premature and rushed, and made for no other reason than a discomfort with uncertainty. Wait till you really know something before making a decision. ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Ashtar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ea924/32.png) [@Lord\_Ashtar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Ashtar)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2006, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-then-there-were-eight-pluto-no-longer-a-planet/370036/49 "2006-08-24T20:24:15Z")
[QUOTE=What Exit?] Am I the only one not disappointed by this decision? [/QUOTE] Not at all. I’ve never thought that Pluto fit in with the rest of the gas giants outside the asteroid belt. Besides, I thought I read somewhere that Pluto and Charon would be the first binary dwarf planet system, or something like that. I think that’s pretty nifty. ---
**Author:** ![IntelInside](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/a5b964/32.png) [@IntelInside](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IntelInside)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2006, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-then-there-were-eight-pluto-no-longer-a-planet/370036/50 "2006-08-24T20:26:21Z")
I have to think that now that it’s no longer a planet, trips to Pluto will now become an affordable spring break option. ---
**Author:** ![Cliffy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/59ef9b/32.png) [@Cliffy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cliffy)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2006, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-then-there-were-eight-pluto-no-longer-a-planet/370036/51 "2006-08-24T20:28:42Z")
I find the outcry about the decision a window into a lot of dark stuff in the human soul; it comes from the same part of the gall bladder that produces things like “My grandparents learned English when they came to this country, so why can’t those people?” and “I had to do it when I was a freshman, and I turned out all right!” That said, I was kinda rootin’ for the frozen little guy. –Cliffy ---
**Author:** ![Alive\_At\_Both\_Ends](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/73ab20/32.png) [@Alive\_At\_Both\_Ends](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alive_At_Both_Ends)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2006, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-then-there-were-eight-pluto-no-longer-a-planet/370036/52 "2006-08-24T20:30:41Z")
[QUOTE=What Exit?] Am I the only one not disappointed by this decision? [/QUOTE] No. It was only called a planet in the first place because people in 1930 didn’t realise how small it was, and because they still believed there had to be a big planet out there to perturb the orbit of Neptune. Except that the orbit of Neptune wasn’t perturbed at all - that was just observational error. And every estimate of Pluto’s size over the next half century revised it down. If they’d known in 1930 what we know now, they’d never have classified it as anything other than a big asteroid. ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2006, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-then-there-were-eight-pluto-no-longer-a-planet/370036/53 "2006-08-24T20:42:13Z")
[QUOTE=Not A Tame Lion] Also, if Pluto is no different from any other KBO, why did Tombaugh discover it and not one of those other objects? [/QUOTE] Serendipity, or albedo perhaps. Some of these new objects are quite dark. Looking at the [orbits of the largest TNOs](http://www.johnstonsarchive.net/astro/tnosorb.html), Pluto doesn’t really distinguish itself. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2006, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-then-there-were-eight-pluto-no-longer-a-planet/370036/54 "2006-08-24T20:47:13Z")
The Wikipedia article on planets has a [list](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planet) of the planets and dwarf planets according to the new definition. This suggests the following mnemonic: Most Viscous Extraterrestrial Monsters Can’t Judge Speed; U-turns Need Particular Care 2. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2006, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-then-there-were-eight-pluto-no-longer-a-planet/370036/55 "2006-08-24T20:53:54Z")
[QUOTE=Sunspace] The Wikipedia article on planets has a [list](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planet) of the planets and dwarf planets according to the new definition. This suggests the following mnemonic: Most Viscous Extraterrestrial Monsters Can’t Judge Speed; U-turns Need Particular Care 2. 😃 [/QUOTE] There have been more than 100 updates to that article in the last 24 hours (not surprising that), and the version I see now says there are 8 planets – which conforms with the decision of the IAU today, and does not include Ceres, Pluto, Charon, or other Kuiper belt objects. ---
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2006, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-then-there-were-eight-pluto-no-longer-a-planet/370036/56 "2006-08-24T20:59:20Z")
Sorry – now I see that there are two lists in that article, one including 1 of the “Terrestrial dwarfs” and 3 of the “Ice dwarfs”. However that list is headed “Attributes of planets and dwarf planets”, so it includes 4 dwarf planets as well as the 8 planets. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2006, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-then-there-were-eight-pluto-no-longer-a-planet/370036/57 "2006-08-24T21:09:14Z")
[QUOTE=Lord Il Palazzo] Why isn’t Neptune also out? Both of them are planets by the first two requirements but their orbits intersect. Why does Pluto get bumped but not Neptune? This just seems odd. [/QUOTE] As the PADL has stated, this is sizist discrimination at its worst. ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2006, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-then-there-were-eight-pluto-no-longer-a-planet/370036/58 "2006-08-24T21:42:14Z")
[QUOTE=Ethilrist] sizist discrimination [/QUOTE] Discworld, or the Turtle? ---
**Author:** ![Angua](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8baadc/32.png) [@Angua](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Angua)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2006, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-then-there-were-eight-pluto-no-longer-a-planet/370036/59 "2006-08-24T22:01:54Z")
Um, yeah, sorry about that. Planetary sacrifice was the only way through my [defense](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=385381) 😉 Seriously though, I do have to agree with the Pluto is not a planet crowd. ---
**Author:** ![Winston\_Smith](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e95f7d/32.png) [@Winston\_Smith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Winston_Smith)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2006, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-then-there-were-eight-pluto-no-longer-a-planet/370036/60 "2006-08-24T22:47:29Z")
I always figued when Castro finally kicked the bucket, Cuba and Pluto would become the 51st and 52nd states (respectively). Snort. So much for _that_ theory. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-then-there-were-eight-pluto-no-longer-a-planet/370036.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-then-there-were-eight-pluto-no-longer-a-planet/370036.md?page=4)