A community to discuss space & astronomy through a STEM lens
Also keep in mind, mander.xyz's rules on politics
Please keep politics to a minimum. When science is the focus, intersection with politics may be tolerated as long as the discussion is constructive and science remains the focus. As a general rule, political content posted directly to the instanceβs local communities is discouraged and may be removed. You can of course engage in political discussions in non-local communities.
π Science
π Engineering
π Art and Photography
Either we now have to learn like 21 planets in elementary school (hard) or Pluto gets a technical demotion (easy).
Pluto is still a planet in all our hearts, this is just humanities constant march of trying to become more and more accurate and precise with time
Teaching the dwarf planets could be fun, though. What about thebfact that Pluto and Charon orbit one another, and how you could build a space elevator directly from.the surface of one to.the other?
wait what? how would that be possible
Space is really huge and it might be possible that the theoretical space elevator would never strike another celestial body.
This is 100% speculative and I have absolutely not done any fact checking other than the fact that space is indeed, really Big McLargeHuge.
searches
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tidal_locking
However, if both the difference in mass between the two bodies and the distance between them are relatively small, each may be tidally locked to the other; this is the case for Pluto and Charon
They're apparently tidally-locked, so that's one issue out of the way.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charon_(moon)
Periapsis: 19 592.61 km
Apoapsis: 19 598.92 km
Eccentricity: 0.000161[10]
So it's pretty close to a circular orbit.
Orbital period: (6 d, 9 h, 17 m)
But it'd still have to change length by about 6 km every 3 Earth days.
But itβd still have to change length by about 6 km every 3 Earth days.
Maybe this is crazy, but make it a giant jumprope. When they're closer together, the jumprope makes a tighter circle and spins faster. When they're further apart, the jumprope makes a larger circle. Put a weight in the middle so it has enough centripetal force to keep the rope taut.
Trust me, it works, I thought about it for two minutes.
If humanity ever were to have the means to build a 12.2k mile or 19.7k km elevator in space between two planets at the far reach of the solar system, I would assume that we would also be capable of somehow making it longer
Pluto is still a planet in all our hearts
My heart pumps blood. My brain does the thinking. Pluto is not a planet. So what? It's still fascinating.
Pluto and Charon are tidally locked, meaning they always face each other as they orbit around. Romanticizing a bit, they are like dancers.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bU5pQWQRxak
I'm your moon, you're my moon,
We go round and round.
From out here, it's the rest of the world that looks so small.
Promise me you will always remember who you are.
Labels can be helpful for categorizing, organizing our knowledge. Labels do not define us. We're all space stuff.
Pluto and Charon are tidally locked
To clarify, they're mutually tidally locked, which is what's rare
This is the song let me forgive science for what they did to Pluto. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=wrJ6_GAprFE
More recently, the campaign has taken on a populist tinge, with Trumpβs Nasa administrator, Jared Isaacman, telling a congressional committee in April that he was in favour of a rethink. βI am very much in the camp of Make Pluto a Planet Again,β he said.
I think this says all that needs to be said about it.
Oh, so just another faux-populist distraction. I don't even see the epstein files comments anymore here
if you wanna call Pluto a a planet, do it. The IAU is not going to arrest you or something.
Don't believe this person, I said it was a planet and spent 5years locked away in the planetarium
(No, this is not a personal opinion).
That sounds awesome. Did you get to look at all the exhibits?
No I had to stay in the toilet
And the sun is flat. Fight me.
It is known.
The argument that Pluto would be a planet if it were in a different orbital track is pretty disingenuous, because in a different orbital track it might also be a moon of Jupiter or just flung out into interstellar space.
I think the argument was more of proposing that the definition of its own orbital track is not informative of anything of the body itself but instead only of what is surrounding the object. The argument seems to be an extension of the planetary scientist school of thought (definition of planet should describe planet) vs the astronomical side (name describes motion/in relation to its surroundings)
no. I really wish non scientists would stay out of details like what is actual medicine or classification of astronimical objects.
I'm no scientist, but it's a pretty obvious no if you understand the reason it's no longer considered a planet.
oh yeah and me to but I have been technically a scientist at times. Still many people can understand it but some I don't think even want to. They want to hand wave it away and go with their feelings about what should be a planet.
Oh, plutodrama is still going on. What is the current definition of planet?
Orbits the sun, has enough gravity to form a sphere and has cleared it's orbit. It's the clearing the orbit part where Pluto fails, as do Ceres, Haumea, Makemake, and Eris. And also Quaoar, Orcus, Ixion, Varuna, Sedna, Gonggong, Salacia, Varda, Hygiea and Vesta. They all orbit in basically an asteroid field.
Pluto in a tiny squeaky voice: "yes"
Betteridge, in a Doctor Manhattan voice: "No."
This kind of thing just fuels the anti-science conservative agenda. Knock it off.
Pluto is only 68% of the size of the Earth's moon. It is only about 2.5 times larger than Ceres, the largest asteroid in our solar system.
A large part of science is refining your understanding as contradictory evidence is found. I used to think Pluto should be a planet, and even met Clyde Tombaugh once, but I have absolutely no concerns about Pluto being reclassified as a dwarf planet. It is just a label and our understanding evolves.
Trump is literally just doing sitcom bits now
More recently, the campaign has taken on a populist tinge, with Trumpβs Nasa administrator, Jared Isaacman, telling a congressional committee in April that he was in favour of a rethink. βI am very much in the camp of Make Pluto a Planet Again,β he said.
Pretty sure there's an Aesop Rock song about this...