Pluto No Longer a Planet!

            Outer Space is a vast near void or an astronomical abyss that lies just beyond the Earth’s atmosphere. It is filled with anomalies, mysteries, and celestial entities that most people would otherwise assume to be a fairytale. There is one object in our solar system, over three billion miles away from our Sun, named Pluto that the entire world is interested in. The old definition of a planet, around the time Pluto was discovered, was planets must be orbiting the Sun (or another Star) and must be “large,” the new definition of a planet helps us define more what a planet truly is. The definition is, must be in orbit around our Sun, another star, or remains of a star, the object’s gravity must be great enough to make the surface overcome ridged forces so that it becomes a spherical mass of rock or gas, the object should have cleared its orbital region and the object cannot be a satellite, (A satellite is a natural entity orbiting around another body). The definition helps astronomers figure out what category Pluto can be placed in, planet or dwarf planet. The problem with the old definition was that it was not specific enough and the spectrum was too broad. With the new description, classification of planets is much clearer. Should Pluto be a planet or should it not be considered a planet? The dwarf planet did not clear its orbital neighborhood, meaning there is still debris in its orbiting path around the Sun. Scientists have also declared Pluto a dwarf planet, according to the IAU, the International Astronomical Union (Inman). Therefore, according to the new definition, Pluto should not be a planet because it fails to meet the requirements to be conveyed as a planet, which were previously stated. If Pluto was dubbed a planet, it would be fair game for hundreds of thousands more “Plutinos” that orbit our Sun to be planets as well. Pluto shouldn't be a planet because, its orbiting path is not cleared and because the planet is simply just too small.

            Debate was sparked in 2006 when the new planet definition was released by astronomers. That new list of criteria pushed Pluto out of the planet category and into the dwarf planet category. A dwarf planet is a smaller celestial body resembling a small planet but missing one of the three criteria needed to be a planet, as described by the International Astronomical Union. Pluto is not a planet because two of Pluto’s moons are bigger than it. Eris and Ceres, Pluto’s moons, are now classified as dwarf planets themselves. What gives Pluto the right to remain a planet? That is just the thing; Pluto cannot remain a planet because Pluto’s own moons, Eris and Ceres, are now considered dwarf planets and are bigger than Pluto. Supportive evidence in the article “What is a Planet” on the Mission Science National Geographic website says, “Technically, there never was a scientific definition of the term planet before the year 2006.”  (Netting) Meaning Pluto was only a planet by default due to faults in the early planetary discovery process. The newer definition makes much more since because there are more criteria that expands the old definition in such a way that knocks Pluto out of the planetary race. The addition of “clearing the orbital region” makes Pluto not a planet because it orbits through the Kuiper Belt which has large asteroids and other particles in the way of Pluto.

There have been 44 more dwarf planets, most of which are considered asteroids and comets, were discovered since 2006 in our solar system when the planet criteria changed most of which met two of the three criteria needing to be a planet. One problem with Pluto is that, Pluto is just simply too small. Mercury is now the smallest planet in the solar system. Upon researching this topic, Fraser Cain found that Pluto is just below half the size of Mercury. Mercury is roughly 4,879 Kilometers across and Pluto is 2,360 Kilometers (Cain).  That is just way too small to be considered a planet. Earth’s own Moon is 3,475 Kilometers. In space size does matter and Pluto does not have that.  Just to get a glimpse of all the Pluto/Mercury information, here is a link of the two bodies side by side. In the picture you can really see how much smaller Pluto is than Mercury (Cain). Pluto did not clear its entire orbiting path. For most of its orbit, Pluto is going through something called the Kuiper Belt. The Kuiper Belt is filled with frozen bodies of rock and ice.

The Kuiper Belt is also remnants of the creation of our solar system. During the creation of a planet, in order to gain size, it has to be pounded by tons and tons of rock while it is a body of molten lava. In Pluto’s case, once it was created the body flew out to the outskirts of the solar system too fast and cooled too quickly. When asteroids hit the body, they just created craters and really didn't add to the mass of the planet. With this new knowledge of how a planet forms, we know that Pluto cooled too fast and did not gain enough mass to have a strong gravitational pull.

 Pluto goes through the Kuiper belt some point during its orbital period. It does not have enough gravitational pull to bring in the other remnants that were left in the Kuiper Belt. Since Pluto did not get any added mass to it as it goes through the Kuiper belt there are asteroids, comets, and other dwarf planets smaller than Pluto that hinders Pluto from becoming a planet. That subject is hard for Pluto to meet. Gerard Kuiper is the scientist who discovered the Kuiper Belt which was the first object spotted beyond Pluto. According to the article, Pluto is now considered part of the Kuiper Belt because Pluto is no longer a planet (Stern).

Pluto is considered a comet in some sense. A comet can take centuries to orbit the Sun. When comets are far from the sun they are frozen solid. Once they come closer to the Sun they begin to melt and create a haze around the center, Coma, and extend outward to trail behind the object, tail. Pluto can relate to this. Pluto takes around 248 years to orbit the Sun, it can be traced back to its origin in the Kuiper belt which is where most short-term comets come from, and when Pluto is a frozen ice body during its winter months and as it approaches the Sun it starts to melt and the gasses create an atmosphere. We can compare that to the coma of a comet only because when both a comet and Pluto moves away from the sun again the atmosphere that Pluto creates and the coma that a comet creates dissipates and both bodies freeze over again. The only difference between a comet and Pluto is that Pluto does not develop a tail. But Pluto does indeed travel at different speeds during its elliptical trek around the sun. It goes far away and comes hurdling back towards the Sun again.

The University of St. Andrews team discovered that Pluto has a second atmosphere that extends beyond the first atmosphere over 3000 Kilometers during the years it is closest to the Sun. Another observation is both Pluto and comets go around the sun in elliptical eccentric orbit. Also this team discovered that Pluto moves in an unusual pattern. Its orbit is now unpredictable due to the observations of the red-shift. (Major) Just to get an idea of what red-shift is a shift in the spectra of very distant items in space toward longer wavelengths (the red end of the spectrum).

Plutinos are TNOs that are in a 2:3 resonance orbit with each other. A TNO is a Trans-Neptunian object; any object that orbits our Sun at a greater average distance than that of Neptune. Examples of these are Pluto, Ceres, Sedna, and Vesta.  Just to name a few. A resonance orbit occurs when two objects in outer space exert a regular periodic gravitational influence on each other, usually due to their orbital periods being related by a ratio of two small integers. With all of this new information we can propose yet another reason why Pluto is not a planet.

Pluto wobbles in and out of Neptune’s orbit for about 20 years and out again for 228 years. It gets so close to Neptune that it could be considered one of Neptune’s distant moons. One of the criteria needed to be a planet is, the object cannot be a satellite. A satellite is an object that that orbits a planet or a smaller body, that body is called its primary. For example, the Moon is our only natural satellite. In the past Pluto may have actually been one of Neptune’s satellites. Let us start small and take our planet. Earth’s moon is gradually getting further and further from the planets gravitational pull every year until eventually drifts away. This process will take more than ten billion years. Right now the Moon is 238,857 miles away from the Earth and is spiraling away from Earth 1.5 inches every year.

            Since it takes ten billion years to escape the Earths grasp, the Moon will have to be 475,599.42 miles away from the Earth before it drifts off into space. Neptune’s mass is 17 times bigger than the Earths mass which mean its gravitational pull can reach much greater distances than Earths. How does this have anything to do with Pluto? All that means is that Pluto is well in the range to be captured by Neptune’s gravitational pull. Twenty years out of the 248 years it takes Pluto to orbit the Sun Pluto is about 2 miles away from Neptune. That is ridiculously close. That distance is about the same distance the Moon was from the Earth in prehistoric Era. If Pluto gets that close to Neptune every 248 years and stays there for 20 of those years it is just a matter of time until Neptune sucks Pluto in, captures it in the gravitational pull, or hurl it into outer space. This does not occur anywhere else in the universe. That is why astronomers assume that Pluto was or still to this day may be considered one of Neptune’s moons.

            The evidence provided all leads to Pluto’s downfall of a planet. Therefore in conclusion, from all of the evidence provided above, Pluto should not be a planet because it fails to meet the requirements to be conveyed as a planet. They are; the object must be in orbit around our Sun, another star, or remains of a star, the object’s gravity must be great enough to make the surface overcome ridged forces so that it becomes a spherical mass of rock or gas, the object should have cleared its orbital region and the object cannot be a satellite. Also because Pluto has comet like features as it gets closer to the Sun. Finally, Pluto can be considered one of Neptune’s distant satellites.

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Works Cited

Cain, Fraser. Mercury and Pluto. 3rd July 2009. Article. 25th September 2012. <www,universetoday.com/34001/mercury-and-pluto/>.

Inman, Mason. Pluto Not a Planet, Astronomers Rule. 24th August 2006. Article. 25th September 2012. <news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2006/08/060824-pluto-planet.html>.

Major, Jason. More Suprises from Pluto. 24th April 2011. Article. 25th September 2012. <http://www.universetoday.com/85071/more-surprises-from-pluto/>.

Mosher, Dave. Discovery Space. 2012. Article. 19th September 2012. <dsc.discovery.com/space/qa/pluto-planet-neil-degrasse-tyson.html>.

Netting, Ruth. Mission Science. 14th April 2011. Article. 25th September 2012. <missionscience.nasa.gov/nasascience/what_is_a_planet.html>.

Society, National Geographic. Dwarf Planets. 2012. Article. 25th September 2012. <science.nationalgeographic.com/science/space/solar-system/dwarf-planet/>.

Stern, Dr. David P. Pluto and the Kuiper Belt. 27 Febuary 2008. Article. 8 December 2012.