Poll: Pluto, is it still a planet?

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Dr_Matt

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Maze1125 said:
And?
It's still not a case of "Scientists say it's not a planet." but a case of "The majority of scientists that attended that meeting say it's not a planet." which is completely different.
It's a democratic system. The majority of the IAU members voted in favour of the definition that was adopted, so regardless of what individuals think, the official stance of the organisation responsible for such definitions is that Pluto falls into the category of dwarf planet.
 

gigastrike

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Pluto never qualified as a planet in the first place. Scientists just thought it did for the longest time because it's tough to measure something thats thousands of miles away.

When it comes down to it, the only thing that makes Pluto different from other bodies in it's general area is it's size.
 

Maze1125

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Dr_Matt said:
Maze1125 said:
And?
It's still not a case of "Scientists say it's not a planet." but a case of "The majority of scientists that attended that meeting say it's not a planet." which is completely different.
It's a democratic system. The majority of the IAU members voted in favour of the definition that was adopted, so regardless of what individuals think, the official stance of the organisation responsible for such definitions is that Pluto falls into the category of dwarf planet.
And?
That doesn't make it objective.
The definition is subject to the voting of the IAU. If the scientists that think Pluto should be a planet gain enough support, a new vote could be called.
 

Dr_Matt

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Maze1125 said:
And?
That doesn't make it objective.
The definition is subject to the voting of the IAU. If the scientists that think Pluto should be a planet gain enough support, a new vote could be called.
We've already covered the objective nature of definitions earlier in the thread.

As for whether a new vote could be called - yes, you're correct. It's unlikely to be, since in the long run it doesn't really matter, but it's perfectly possible. Other than the initial bickering, it is only a very small minority that are still unhappy with the outcome, and most of them are the people responsible for identifying the large KBOs like Eris, Sedna and such, since they wanted to be credited with finding planets rather than dwarf planets.
 

Maze1125

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Dr_Matt said:
Maze1125 said:
And?
That doesn't make it objective.
The definition is subject to the voting of the IAU. If the scientists that think Pluto should be a planet gain enough support, a new vote could be called.
We've already covered the objective nature of definitions earlier in the thread.
Good for you.
And what conclusion did you high and mighty "earlier in the thread" people come to?
 

Zamn

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I never considered Pluto a planet. It never was a planet by any objective standard. It's too small, too far from the sun, its orbit is too elliptical and too inclined to the ecliptic.

And I'm amazed by the ignorance of basic astronomy in this thread. It's quite clear reading most of the posts that the author has no understanding of any of concepts involved in deciding what is and is not a planet. Disclaimer: That comment wasn't directed at people making informed arguments for Pluto as a planet, but at people who simply don't know what they're talking about.
 

Maze1125

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Dr_Matt said:
Maze1125 said:
Good for you.
And what conclusion did you high and mighty "earlier in the thread" people come to?
Read it at your leisure.
No.
My first comment was directed at someone else.
You decided that it was directed at you and decided to argue with me.
You now expect me to go read almost two hundred posts so I can have the back story to an argument that you started.

I'm not going to read huge amounts of someone else's argument just because you're too far up your own arse to have the common human courtesy to explain your point of view to someone you started an argument with.
 

PuppetMaster

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If a rock orbits a larger rock it's a moon, if a rock orbits a star it's a planet. With me so far, science?
 

Maze1125

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PuppetMaster said:
If a rock orbits a larger rock it's a moon, if a rock orbits a star it's a planet. With me so far, science?
What about gas giants and asteroids?
 

PuppetMaster

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Maze1125 said:
PuppetMaster said:
If a rock orbits a larger rock it's a moon, if a rock orbits a star it's a planet. With me so far, science?
What about gas giants and asteroids?
asteroids are also reffered to as "minor planets" and I'm not saying planets have to be rock, but it just so happens that Pluto is
 

Darknacht

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PuppetMaster said:
If a rock orbits a larger rock it's a moon, if a rock orbits a star it's a planet. With me so far, science?
Using this definition could you imagine memorizing the millions of planets in grade school.
 

Dr_Matt

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Maze1125 said:
I'm not going to read huge amounts of someone else's argument just because you're too far up your own arse to have the common human courtesy to explain your point of view to someone you started an argument with.
Since you asked nicely, here's the abbreviated version. The linguist/philosopher maintains that scientific definitions are subjective. The scientist maintains that they are not (at least in the physical sciences). There was an agreement to disagree on the point.
 

PuppetMaster

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Darknacht said:
PuppetMaster said:
If a rock orbits a larger rock it's a moon, if a rock orbits a star it's a planet. With me so far, science?
Using this definition could you imagine memorizing the millions of planets in grade school.
lol ya, that would be pretty rediculous, but I don't make the rules, just call em like I see em
 

Epifols

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vivaldiscool said:
If the scientists say it's not a planet, then it's not a planet. It's not like this is a subjective thing.
Actually I'd say the whole matter is a subjective thing. This can be shown by the fact that a debate even existed.

Also, OP, never make a poll without an 'other' option. I really don't care what we call some flying crap out on the edge of our solar system. So 'other' would have been a much more apt choice.
 

Dr_Matt

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PuppetMaster said:
dictionary definition. also called planetoid, but noone uses that term
That one was used officially prior to the '06 definitions of planet, dwarf planet, small solar system body, etc.