Hey all you Humans are Weird writers- why haven’t any of you written about how an entire generation is still defensive over Pluto’s loss of planetary status because we all collectively packbonded with a planet.
PLUTO IS A PLANET DO NOT FUCK WITH ME.
“Human Steven.” Shrax timidly approached, mandibles nervously caressing one another.
“Yeah Shrax?” Steven looked over from his station.
“I was wondering about your home star. Records seem… inconsistent in how many planets orbit Solaris.”
“Oh, yeah, it was debated a bit back in the day, but it’s eight.”
“Fuck you Steve! There’s nine!” Frank yells from across the room.
“Pluto’s only made two and a half revolutions Frank! It’s to small and barely caught in Solaris’ gravity! It’s not a planet!”
“Fight me bro!”
If Pluto is a planet then so are Ceres, Eris, Makemake and Haumea
Don’t forget about the other Dwarf planets. Pluto hasn’t been cast out of the solar system. It is the most famous of the Dwarf Planets, not the only one
If Pluto is a planet, then so is the moon, its mean radius is almost 1.5 times as large, and the moon is over 5 times as massive as Pluto.
The Moon, by definition, is a satellite that orbits a planetary body, which in turn orbits the sun. The Earth and Moon are almost close enough in mass to qualify as a binary planet.
Many of the moons of Jupiter and Saturn would qualify for planetary status if ‘as big or bigger than Pluto’ was the only requirement.
Pluto’s moon would also qualify.
The reclassification of Pluto was about defining the parameters of what qualifies as a planet. Pluto has been reclassified as a Dwarf Planet, because while it does meet the most basic requirement of ‘being spherical’ it is very small, and does not have the mass to clear its own orbit.
I am familiar with the current IAU definition, I disagree with it. Whether to call something a planet or not should depend on the nature of the object, not it’s oribit. If not the moon, Ganymede, Titan, and Callisto certainly should be. While admittedly arbitrary, 100 Yg seems to be a nice cutoff point if we go by mass.
Perhaps the real distinction we should make is to not consider gas giants to be planets, instead they are a class of object between planet and brown dwarf.
Shrax timidly shuffles back towards the doorway, unsure of what exactly just stared while the humans have polite but heated discussions.
“Don’t be distressed Shrax,” Jurn says as they stop to observe the presented arguments out of morbid curiosity, “At least it’s an interesting debate, though I fear we’ll never get that official count for the office.”