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#51 2006-08-27 2:18 am
- D'Eyncourt
- OMGDICTATOR

- Registered: 2001-12-27
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Re: Pluto no longer a planet
ConnertheCat wrote:
D'Eyncourt wrote:
ConnertheCat wrote:
Neither has Earth, Jupiter or Neptune - guess they aren't planets either.
That quote isn't the only criterion, but it is the one which disqualifies Pluto.
The current reason Pluto isn't a planet right now is because Neptune's in it's orbit... guess what, Pluto is also in Neptune's orbit, therefore making it not a planet either.
Uh, no. Pluto is considered a Kuiper Belt Object (and it may not be the biggest one, just the biggest found so far) and is not in Neptune's orbit.
BOYCOTT SONY
"I think the question now is not whether you went to Vietnam or whether you didn't, whether you fought in the war or fought against the war. I think the only question is whether we can find a president smart enough never to make a mistake like that again"--Molly Ivins, way back in 1992
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#52 2006-08-27 9:54 am
Re: Pluto no longer a planet
D'Eyncourt wrote:
Uh, no. Pluto is considered a Kuiper Belt Object (and it may not be the biggest one, just the biggest found so far) and is not in Neptune's orbit.
Uh, no. It's not the biggest found so far.
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#53 2006-08-27 10:15 am
- Chickenhawk
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- Registered: 2005-06-01
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Re: Pluto no longer a planet
decker wrote:
D'Eyncourt wrote:
Uh, no. Pluto is considered a Kuiper Belt Object (and it may not be the biggest one, just the biggest found so far) and is not in Neptune's orbit.
Uh, no. It's not the biggest found so far.
Yes, that's exactly what precipitated this whole deal.
The recent medical controversy over whether vaccinations cause autism reveals a habit of human cognition—thinking anecdotally comes naturally, whereas thinking scientifically does not. -- Michael Shermer
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#54 2006-08-27 10:21 am
- ConnertheCat
- 7 Months Later

- From: Penfield, NY
- Registered: 2001-07-21
- Posts: 13405
Re: Pluto no longer a planet
D'Eyncourt wrote:
ConnertheCat wrote:
D'Eyncourt wrote:
That quote isn't the only criterion, but it is the one which disqualifies Pluto.The current reason Pluto isn't a planet right now is because Neptune's in it's orbit... guess what, Pluto is also in Neptune's orbit, therefore making it not a planet either.
Uh, no. Pluto is considered a Kuiper Belt Object (and it may not be the biggest one, just the biggest found so far) and is not in Neptune's orbit.
How can Neptune be in Pluto's Orbit, and not vise versa?
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#55 2006-08-27 10:23 am
- Chickenhawk
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- From: Being Snarky
- Registered: 2005-06-01
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Re: Pluto no longer a planet
because Neptune is bigger, so it is a competing body. Pluto is so much smaller than Neptune that it is not competing with Neptune for supremacy.
The recent medical controversy over whether vaccinations cause autism reveals a habit of human cognition—thinking anecdotally comes naturally, whereas thinking scientifically does not. -- Michael Shermer
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#56 2006-08-27 1:47 pm
- D'Eyncourt
- OMGDICTATOR

- Registered: 2001-12-27
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Re: Pluto no longer a planet
Chickenhawk wrote:
because Neptune is bigger, so it is a competing body. Pluto is so much smaller than Neptune that it is not competing with Neptune for supremacy.
Not quite. While there is a part of Pluto's orbit that is inside Neptune's, Pluto's orbit also is significantly elliptical (so that Pluto spends most of its orbit out in the Kuiper Belt) and is tilted out of the plane that the (now) eight planets are in (17.6 degrees) so that when Pluto is closer than Neptune it is also about 800 million miles straight up out of Neptune's orbit.
Or, in short: Pluto is not in Neptune's orbit, nor vice versa.
BOYCOTT SONY
"I think the question now is not whether you went to Vietnam or whether you didn't, whether you fought in the war or fought against the war. I think the only question is whether we can find a president smart enough never to make a mistake like that again"--Molly Ivins, way back in 1992
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#57 2006-08-27 1:58 pm
- ConnertheCat
- 7 Months Later

- From: Penfield, NY
- Registered: 2001-07-21
- Posts: 13405
Re: Pluto no longer a planet
Strange, how that was the thing that made it not a planet after all.
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#58 2006-08-27 2:17 pm
- D'Eyncourt
- OMGDICTATOR

- Registered: 2001-12-27
- Posts: 8806
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Re: Pluto no longer a planet
ConnertheCat wrote:
Strange, how that was the thing that made it not a planet after all.
How do you figure that? I don't know how to make this any clearer but despite your opinion: Pluto and Neptune do not share an orbit. I have to ask: are you capable of thinking about this problem in three dimensions?
BOYCOTT SONY
"I think the question now is not whether you went to Vietnam or whether you didn't, whether you fought in the war or fought against the war. I think the only question is whether we can find a president smart enough never to make a mistake like that again"--Molly Ivins, way back in 1992
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