Size doesn't matter
this post was submitted on 07 Jan 2026
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Correct, it's called planet when it orbits arround the Sun AND has cleaned it's orbit from asteroids, not the case of Pluto, whose orbit is still full of other objects, some even bigger than Pluto itself.
If it orbits an Planet instead of the Sun, it's a Moon, even if it is bigger than some other planets.
"All right, Ganymede. You can be a planet, but first you have to clean up your orbit. Start with Jupiter."
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Unless you are Pluto.
Wasn't it more bc it doesn't clear it's surroundings?
And it has an orbit at a different angle than the 8 Planets and at it’s narrowest the ellipse of Plutos orbit is actually closer to the Sun than ~~Uranus~~ Neptune.
Edit: That moment when you‘re so done, you fuck up the order of our planets…
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That's what I tell my wife but she won't listen
Come on guys, laugh
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Weird how many people seem to think it’s like a competition or something. It’s a descriptive label.
The whole Pluto thing taught us a lot about the psychology of letting go of something taught at a young age. People getting proper frothing at how they shoulda just let Pluto keep it, just to save themselves the extremely minor cognitive dissonance.
When people get upset about pluto, I'll just tell them if pluto is planet, so is Ceres. Which then results in mindless staring because they never even heard about Ceres...
And Cedna. And Eris. And Makemake. And Haumea. And...
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Have you seen the lengths people go to in order to not have to change their world view even a smidge? To not have to correct themselves about anything at all? I'll give you a hint, literally every right wing party in the world doing well is because weak people can't change a damn thing about themselves.
"World view" is very fitting here.
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I really doubt more than .001% actually care if it's called a planet or not, it's just a meme to pretend that you care. Like pineapple on pizza.
No one actually cares if you put pineapple on pizza. No one actually cares about Pluto being a planet. But there are many people who see themselves as some sort of white knight defenders of the truth against haters that don't actually even exist.
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well guess which Moon is also pretty close in size to Mercury
Is it the sun?
Yes. Everyone knows the order goes:
Sun, Sun sized Mercury that laughs at all the little planets, Venus, etc.
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What is yer mum’s bare arse, Trebek!
The one all the cheese comes from?
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People fighting for Pluto that it should be a planet instead of a dwarf planet
Ceres: 🥺
Context: Ceres is now considered a dwarf planet, and used to be considered just an asteroid, but when it was first discovered it was considered a planet. That was in 1801. There is no objective criteria for what a planet is and isn't. Like a lot of things in nature, things just exist, and as humans we categorize them. Ceres is round like a planet like Pluto. I'm not saying it should be considered a planet, I think dwarf planet fits them both nicely. As late as the 1950s Ceres was still sometimes considered a planet by some people.
I have a sort spot for it. I love it.
Edit: Because two people have misunderstood me now I'm going to say it more explicitly. I'm fully aware there is a scientific definition for dwarf planets. I'm not saying there isn't. I'm just saying compared to something else like prime numbers there isn't an obviously correct way to categorize them and the definition has changed over time. By stating the current definition of planets and/or dwarf planets you're missing my point. Those definitions change. See here for the history.
I'm fighting for jupiter to also be a dwarf planet because it has not cleared its orbit of a few million asteroids.
You do have a point
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Git Gud Ganymede, break out of Jupiter’s orbit
Gas giants aren't planets: they're just clouds, man.
Well ... what planet does Mercury orbit? Oh ... yea, then its not a moon.
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New York City born and raised.
I distinctly remember a third grade class when the teacher told us that the population nation of Sweden was smaller than the population of New York City.
Nobody does indignation like a 9 year old.
If you’re only counting New York City proper this is true, but the New York City metro area vastly out populates the entire nation of Sweden. (20M vs 10M)
iirc it was NYC 8 mllion and Sweden 7.5 million. No idea what her source was.
Mercury used to be bigger than it currently is. The only thing that's survived the wrath of The Sun is its core.
Mercury is hard core.
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“Moon” is more an indictment of the mediocre fusion product of the mass being orbited than any statement about the orbiter.
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I love how i get knowledgeable stuff under such memes
Best part of lemmy
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