Comments on: Nobody Expected Pluto to be This Active http://wanderingspace.net/2010/02/nobody-expected-pluto-to-be-this-active/ Imaging the bodies of our Solar Sysytem Mon, 21 May 2012 22:46:27 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.5.1 By: thomas romer http://wanderingspace.net/2010/02/nobody-expected-pluto-to-be-this-active/#comment-6303 thomas romer Wed, 24 Feb 2010 23:04:08 +0000 http://wanderingspace.net/?p=1155#comment-6303 hmmm… i think defining planets should be nothing but that. a definition. if we discovered an asteroid with some strange processes going on that was only 10 miles wide, i don’t think that should become a planet. pluto is a kuiper belt object or a dwarf planet by definition. it might be the most interesting one is all. what is really odd about pluto is also that it’s moon is so big relative to it. it is really a dual system which in some ways, to me, makes it even less a planet as much of the mass we thought it contained when we discovered it really belonged to its moon. hmmm… i think defining planets should be nothing but that. a definition.

if we discovered an asteroid with some strange processes going on that was only 10 miles wide, i don’t think that should become a planet. pluto is a kuiper belt object or a dwarf planet by definition. it might be the most interesting one is all. what is really odd about pluto is also that it’s moon is so big relative to it. it is really a dual system which in some ways, to me, makes it even less a planet as much of the mass we thought it contained when we discovered it really belonged to its moon.

]]> By: Laurel Kornfeld http://wanderingspace.net/2010/02/nobody-expected-pluto-to-be-this-active/#comment-6302 Laurel Kornfeld Wed, 24 Feb 2010 20:48:13 +0000 http://wanderingspace.net/?p=1155#comment-6302 As a dynamic world with geology and weather, Pluto shows it has more in common with the other, bigger planets than it does with most Kuiper Belt Objects except the few large ones, which should be considered planets too. Most KBOs in Pluto’s orbital path are tiny and do not have these features. These images show that before making definitive classifications, we should first get the data and analyze it; otherwise, we are defining objects without knowing significant factors about them. As a dynamic world with geology and weather, Pluto shows it has more in common with the other, bigger planets than it does with most Kuiper Belt Objects except the few large ones, which should be considered planets too. Most KBOs in Pluto’s orbital path are tiny and do not have these features. These images show that before making definitive classifications, we should first get the data and analyze it; otherwise, we are defining objects without knowing significant factors about them.

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