case study pluto

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Is Pluto a planet?

Recently their has been some argument and discussion on whether Pluto fits the description of a planet due to it size, scientist have been saying if Pluto is a planet then many other orbital pieces of ice and rock may have to be called planets as well, in this study I will observe arguments for and against Pluto being called a planet, the true definition of a planet and come to my own conclusion on whether Pluto is a planet or not.

First of all the true definition of a planet is that the planet must orbit the sun, and have sufficient mass for its self-gravity to overcome rigid body forces so that it assumes a hydrostatic equilibrium (nearly round) shape, and has cleared the neighbourhood around its orbit. Another description of a planet is According to the new definition; a full-fledged planet is an object that orbits the sun and is large enough to have become round due to the force of its own gravity. In addition, a planet has to dominate the neighbourhood around its orbit.

There are many points of view from both sides I will acknowledge both sides before coming to a conclusion.

First of all many scientist say Pluto failed to dominate it orbit around the sun in the same way as the other planets

Professor Iwan Williams said “The need for a strict definition was deemed necessary after new telescope technologies began to reveal far-off objects that rivalled Pluto in size.

Without a new nomenclature, these discoveries raised the prospect that textbooks could soon be talking about 50 or more planets in the Solar System”

This point illustrates that if we continue to call Pluto a planet we will have to start to call many other items in orbit planets as well. Scientist is Czech also said, “Pluto was automatically disqualified because its highly elliptical orbit overlaps with that of Neptune. It will now join a new category of dwarf planets” this tells us that Pluto failed to meet the requirements of a planets description.

Another point of view from the against side of the argument

Some scientist say that Pluto was only named a plane due to the fact that there was not as many planetary labels available as there are now when Pluto was discovered and planet was the only label that fitted Pluto’s description however now that we developed our knowledge in the planetary subject we have discovered that there are many different types of planets and relabelling Pluto would give it a better description of what it is.

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Astronomers also say that Size. Size. Pluto's mass is 25 times smaller than Mercury's and only 9 times larger than that of Ceres, the largest body in the asteroid belt. Some recent large Kuiper Belt Objects (notably Sedna) are likely larger than Ceres, if smaller than Pluto (and the recently discovered Eris (previously "Xena" or 2003 UB313) may be larger than Pluto). However, any lower cut-off in size for planets is arbitrary, and putting it above or below Pluto's size and mass is a question of individual preference. Also, if, for example, the lowest diameter a planet can have is ...

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