Pluto

[Alan Burns]

Just watched a fascinating Horizon program yesterday (BBC2) about the findings of a probe sent to investigate the planet Pluto.
After a nine year journey, the findings show that what was thought to be the most inhospitable planet in our solar system actually has many of the essential ingredients for life - including evidence of liquid water beneath the surface..  (but you still need the master chef to finish the job !).  Well worth a watch.

[Roses]

I thought Pluto was no longer considered a planet but a moon?

Off topic, but there is a pigeon with a dodgy wing which inhabits our bird table,  my husband has named it 'Pluto'.

[Alan Burns]

I thought Pluto was no longer considered a planet but a moon?

Off topic, but there is a pigeon with a dodgy wing which inhabits our bird table,  my husband has named it 'Pluto'.

I think it was recently downgraded to be just a large asteroid, but the horizon program shows it to have its own moons and its own atmosphere - so it is back to being a planet.

[Anchorman]

Truly fascinating stuff. The documentary was such an eye-opener.

[Outrider]

Technically, Pluto is now included in the group known as 'Dwarf Planets' - rocky bodies large enough to maintain a stable shape and orbiting the sun (rather than being a satellite of another orbital body) but which haven't cleared their orbital path of other objects - others in the group include Ceres in the inner Solar System and Eris, Makemake and Haumea outside of the Neptunian orbital path.  I think the complete list of dwarf planets runs to a couple of hundred, now.

O.

[Owlswing]

 (but you still need the master chef to finish the job !).  Well worth a watch.

If his attempts at writing a book of history and rules, or guiding those who did write it, are anything to go by, anything he cooked would be seriously suspect of health grounds!

[torridon]

Just watched a fascinating Horizon program yesterday (BBC2) about the findings of a probe sent to investigate the planet Pluto.
After a nine year journey, the findings show that what was thought to be the most inhospitable planet in our solar system actually has many of the essential ingredients for life - including evidence of liquid water beneath the surface..  (but you still need the master chef to finish the job !).  Well worth a watch.

Just caught it on iPlayer, unexpectedly fascinating and beautiful planet, who'd have thought it ?

Thanks for the heads up.

[BeRational]

I think it was recently downgraded to be just a large asteroid, but the horizon program shows it to have its own moons and its own atmosphere - so it is back to being a planet.

No its not a planet. Having a moon or moons does  ot make it a planet.
It has to clear all objects in its orbit, which of course it does not.
But it is still interesting and whether we label it a planet or not is neither here nor there. It is what it is.

[SteveH]

I thought Pluto was no longer considered a planet but a moon?

Off topic, but there is a pigeon with a dodgy wing which inhabits our bird table,  my husband has named it 'Pluto'.

It's a minor planet. A moon is a natural satellite of a planet, i.e. it orbits a planet. Pluto orbits the sun directly.

[SteveH]

No its not a planet. Having a moon or moons does  ot make it a planet.
It has to clear all objects in its orbit, which of course it does not.
But it is still interesting and whether we label it a planet or not is neither here nor there. It is what it is.

Surely the moon is an object in earth's orbit, which earth hasn't cleared, so is the earth not a planet?

[BeRational]

Surely the moon is an object in earth's orbit, which earth hasn't cleared, so is the earth not a planet?

No the moon is a satellite of the Earth and captured in its orbit.
There are no other large bodies in our orbit.
If there were the Earth would not be labelled a planet.
But labelling changes nothing really, as it is what it is.