Wednesday, August 30, 2006

Voice Box: Pluto




Scientists have recently decided that Pluto is not a planet. They say that due to its size and strange orbit, it is actually more likely a resident of the Kuiper Belt. In order to determine what a planet is, the IAU (the International Astronomical Union) came up with guidelines. The first is that in order to be a planet, the candidate had to be a sphere. Unfortunately, this also included moons and some asteroids. The second condition is that the planet has to orbit around the sun. These two criteria led to solar system with far too many planets, including Pluto, UB313, Ceres (an asteroid located in between Mars and Jupiter), Pluto’s own moon Charon, and numerous celestial bodies in the Kuiper Belt. So they IAU added a third. In order to qualify as a planet, these bodies would have to dominate their own orbit. This limited the number of planets to eight. Now textbooks, films, books, papers, and even gift shop items must be changed to eliminate Pluto’s claim to planet-hood. What is your opinion, should Pluto be a planet or not? Tell us what you think!

17 comments:

Anonymous said...

pluto should be a planet.
i dont think that it's fair to take pluto away all of a sudden.
just b/c pluto is small and changed orbit doesent mean that the little planet is a rock in space. the songs that pre-schooler's and elementry kids also have to be changed. in my opinion they should give back pluto. all of it is just a little stupid.

Anonymous said...

I think that Pluto SHOULD still be considered a planet-- and I'm not just being old-fashioned.
I think that Pluto is STILL a planet, because...Well... Pluto has been part of our solar system for a long time! OK, maybe I am being old-fashioned. YAY!
Well, Scientests, if you ever read this comment, please remember that I don't care if you outrule Pluto-- Because I'll still think it is!!!

blessings,
Miss Colorado USA girl

Anonymous said...

i think that pluto should be a planet.
just because pluto is small and it's orbit is weird doesent mean it's not a planet . that is just really stupid to say that pluto is too small and it's not big enough to be a planet.

Anonymous said...

Pluto is a planet. I have a placemat of the solar system, and it says pluto is a planet. So puto's a planet.

Seriously, they can't change it after so many people are used to the way the whole solar system-as-accepted-by-scientests thing is now.

Anonymous said...

Pluto should still be a planet.

Let's say someone was born small. Their parents threw them into a lake, and they drowned. If they had survived, they would've become the smartest, best person in the world.

Pluto will be recycled as a planet. Maybe, life is on Pluto, and something great will happen someday. What will they say? Idiots of o6 and 07 decided not to keep it a planet.

So I think Pluto should stay.

Anonymous said...

Scientists should look at/take
pluto.It's got a wacky orbit.
So what?

Anonymous said...

Of course Pluto should still be a planet!!!! What abot all us Scopios out here!!! Whats our planet now mister genius scientists??

Anonymous said...

I couldn't care less.


Pluto's probably too small and far away.

Anonymous said...

Pluto probably is small and changed orbit, I don't doubt what scienctists say. But I think PLuto should be a planet.

If it isn't, NASA probably won't be as interested, and won't research it as much anymore. There is probably something really important on it, and we shoudl keep it a planet just so people care!!!

Cassandra said...

Who says size counts? Pluto is SO a planet! Anyways, now tons of textbooks are wrong when they say that there are nine planets!!!

Anonymous said...

pluto is a planet! It has been so for a long time. Like many other comments said- u can't just take it away all of a sudden. that's not fair!

Anonymous said...

Pluto is Totally still a Planet.Anonymous is right What about all us Scorpios out here?
Oh yeah and how are kids supposed to remember the planets now?
My Very Educated Mother Just Served Us Nine (Pizzas)?
And if Plutos Not a Planet whats to say were not a planet.Were tilted to the side?

Anonymous said...

I think that Pluto should not be a planet, because Pluto is the roman name for Hades, the Greek god of the underworld. When Pluto was lowered to a dwarf planet Ceres, a former planitiod was raised up to a dwarf planet. In Greek myth ceres is Demeter and her daughter, Persephone was abducted by Hades. Now at last Hades and Demeter are equal.

learn more at
http://hunter.apana.org.au/~gallae/pantheon/myth/hades.htm

Anonymous said...

I agree with the coment at the bottom!! she id Totally right!!!

Anonymous said...

Pluto should be a planet. Since scientists are going against this demoting Pluto thing. I mean it's been a planet for years. No one wants to re learn their planets. There's 9 and that it.

Roger Dases said...

Pluto should be a planet. Since scientists are going against this demoting Pluto thing. I mean it's been a planet for years. No one wants to re learn their planets. There's 9 and that it.

Roger Dases said...

Pluto is a planet. Since the majority wins it's a planet. Some scientists even disagree with their statement. If some scientists it, Pulto is a planet. THere are 9.