The Misfit Planet

Hello, scientists!

In 2006, a dreadful thing happened. One of our planets, specifically Pluto, was demoted to a dwarf planet before it had time to complete one orbit since its discovery. Why would anyone do this? Are scientists really this cold-hearted? The answer may brighten your moods about Pluto, but it may make you sad about other things.

First of all, let's define a planet. The Greeks had the best definition: if moves across the sky and was bright, it was a planet. However, this also included the Sun and the Moon, and excluded Earth. Today, we have a more accurate model, with the Moon orbiting Earth orbiting the Sun. Today's description of a planet is:

1) It orbits around the Sun,

2) it has enough mass to pull itself into a spherical shape, and

3) has cleared its orbit around the Sun. (Nothing else is its path.)

So what's wrong with Pluto? It actually hasn't cleared its path. The exact criterion is that it can't be affected by gravity by another thing, and it has to have the majority of its mass in its orbital path. This is cool, but Pluto is in Kuiper Belt, which is a larger version of the asteroid belt that is located behind Neptune's orbit. Therefore, all the space debris makes it impossible for Pluto to compete, and it only makes up of .07% of the mass on its orbital path. Also, Pluto's moon, Chiron, had gravitational influence on Pluto, so the little planet had to go.

Although you may be mad at astronomers, don't be. When the International Astronomical Union met to make the faithful decision, only 5% of the scientists voted, almost none wanting to be guilty to demote Pluto. However, votes were cast, leaving Pluto to make new friends with the four other dwarf planets: Eris (which played a large factor in the demotion of the planet), Ceres (which actually followed Pluto's fate about a century before), Haumea, and Makemake. So don't think scientists abandoned Pluto. They put it a place where better belongs.

That's all for now! Make sure to comment in the comment section below. Make sure to check in later!

Until next time,

Ben's jamin'

Benjamin

P.S. Make sure you check out John's math blog at http://johncooksmathblog.blogspot.com.