Will Pluto be stripped of planet status?

It seems more and more likely that Pluto is “just” a Kuiper belt object, especially since the discovery of Quaoar http://www.cnn.com/2002/TECH/space/10/07/ice.object/index.html

If so, how would this happen? Is there a committee that meets periodically to decide these things? Is there anything like a “lobby group” that would try to sway any decision one way or another?

No idea. I can see astrologists making a bit of a fuss, though.

One thing’s for sure: It won’t be long before GW declares war on Quouar. Preemptive strike and all that.

From the little I’ve read, it appears as if science reporters and people with a casual interest in science take a keen interest in this matter, whereas serious astronomers couldn’t care less!
In a few instances, I’ve read of astronomers rolling their eyes or groaning "“not again,” when the question is brought up.

I will offer no opinion as to whether Pluto is a “planet,.” I merely note that “planet” is not an honorific term bestowed on particularly deserving heavenly bodies. And if, at some point, the majority of astronomers decide it isn’t, that doesn’t constitute a “demotion” of come sort.

Pluto will be of no more or less importance or interest to astronomers if it’s called something other than a “planet.” In fact, the only people who should care about the matter are schoolchildren, who’ll have one less planet name to memorize, if Pluto is reclassified.

So, Astorian, is it safe to say that “you don’t know?”

I get the feeling that it has become one of those facts which even if changed will never be forgotten.

There is one prominent astronomer who more then a year ago proclaimed that Pluto was not a planet. Neil de Grasse Tyson

I feel scientists should abandon the term planet and adopt a system more like what they have for stars. R for rocky, g for gas and I for icy body. And then divide 0 through 9 for the sizes. So earth might be an R5, Jupiter a G8 and Pluto an I1. And this new one an I0. Something like that. It seems very scientific. I can’t say whether or not it would actually be useful, but including data in its name seems like it would be so.

This would help in deciding whether it’s a universal “Neptune, Pluto” regardless of Pluto’s orbit, or “Pluto, Neptune” to reflect Pluto’s peregrinations.

But, but, My Very Earstwhile Mother Just Served Us Nine… what?

Are you gonna leave my very earstwhile mother hanging? Huh? Huh?
Bastards.

I just talked to Neil today about this whole Quaoar/Pluto mess. His advocacy for the “demotion” of Pluto was really more of a publicity stunt to help spark interest in the general public for astronomical-related matters than anything substantive. There are no hard-and-fast rules for designating heavenly bodies. Yet. Theoretically, the International Astronomical Union (IAU) would be the organization that could make a decision. They are decidedly neutral on the topic and well they should be. Who’s to say what is a planet and what is not? It is more of a philosophical question than a real scientific one.

Take this new Quaoar object. The thing is substantially smaller than Pluto but has a more circular orbit meaning that in some ways it’s MORE like a planet than Pluto but in other ways it’s LESS like a planet.

The reality is that there is no God-given definition for what constitutes the difference between a “planet” and an “asteroid” or a “Kuiper Belt Object” or an “Oort Cloud Object” or a “comet nucleus”, etc. Likewise there’s not a strict dividing line between “planet” orbitting a star and “brown dwarf” orbitting a star. They are all nebulous terms that we have rough definitions for, but they are only rough definitions. At one time, astronomers and the general public labeled Ceres, Vesta, Pallas, Juno, and a whole host of other large objects in the asteroid belts as “planets”. That fad slowly died when it became apparent how many small little bits of rock and debris are out there. Those first discovered are all still very big asteroids, but they pale in comparison to, say, the Earth… or even Pluto!

Pluto/Charon is an amazing object. It doesn’t fit in with the rest of the crowd. Its planet-status is a fun controversy to get people interested in the heavens. Generally, the general public likes to defend the poor 9th planet out there in the cold. I like going around proclaiming, “Pluto is not a planet.” It gets people all riled up and they go and stomp off to research the reasons why Pluto should be a planet. The more they learn about the heavens, the better, is my opinion.

What? They found something in the Quoiper Belt? Did I miss something?

Cripes. All the good planet names have already been taken. Because I’m sure Lucas would sue if you called this new thing “Hoth.”

Well, Quaoar (where the heck did they come up with that name, anyway?) is by no means the first such body found. It’s merely the largest except for Pluto.

They’re called Kuiper objects from being located in the supposed Kuiper Belt of icy objects, located a bit beyond Pluto. (The Bad Astronomer or Podkayne may stop by this thread and can speak with more accuracy about them, what’s known and what speculated.

Pluto is merely the largest Kuiper object, and since it had been considered a planet for over 50 years before there was observational confirmation of other Kuiper objects, it got to keep planet status. Whether Quaoar gets planet status or not is debatable – what’s the minimum? Obviously something between Pluto and Ceres, but where’s the line?

I think tradition will keep it a planet, even if we find 101 other pluto sized rocks.

From the CNN article linked-to above:

This NASA article goes into a bit more detail:

I disagree with the view prevailing in this thread that Pluto’s status is just a matter of semantics, uninteresting to any serious astronomer. Classification, notation, and nomenclature are always important in science. Linnaeus is considered a great biologist because of his contributions to taxonomy and nomenclature.

As for the substance of the dispute, I like Isaac Asimov’s solution in “The Incredible Shrinking Planet” (published in “The Relativity of Wrong”). Any object orbiting the Sun is a planet. Planets are divided into major planets (the Big Eight), minor planets (asteroids), microplanets (meteoroids), cometary planets, and mesoplanets (Pluto, Quaoar, and other Kuiper Belt objects).

She could serve nectarines?

Um, noodles? Nachos! Yeah, nachos!

She could serve nectarines?

Um, noodles? Nachos! Yeah, nachos!

Personally, I think the name Quaoar is spelled way too much like quasar. It also doesn’t easily roll off the tongue.

As far as Pluto’s planethood, scientists who study Kuiper Belt objects are most likely to include it in their studies. Scientists who study gas giants or terrestrial (rocky) planets will not. Thus planetologists will de facto treat it as a non-planet.