just a reminder that pluto deserves to be a planet because at the international astronomical union vote to de-planetify pluto, only about 400 people (roughly) voted on the pluto debate.
the international astronomical union has a membership of 9,000 astronomers.
less than 5 percent of the world's astronomers voted on this topic!
extra fun fact: pluto has 5 moons, the largest being charon. pluto is also one of the most geologically active places in our solar system with rocks and ice! it's like earth in the sense that it's being reshaped by processes like erosion. justice for pluto!!!
Okay time to say something a bit controversial...
I don't care whether Pluto is designated a planet or not, and unless we are willing to also deem Ceres and Eris planets then we shouldn't classify Pluto thus.
Find a coherent, useful, and transparent definition of "planet" that includes Pluto and does not include so much else as to make the list of planets in the Sol system unwieldy, and we can talk. But, if the only reason you want to keep Pluto as a planet is you learned it that way, darnit then you ought to let it go. Kids aren't learning cursive any more either. Some people are making a fuss over that, but changes like that are necessary as our knowledge of the world grows and the ways we interact with it change.
On the other hand, having consistent definitions of words in science matters, and so it is only with the utmost reluctance and most urgent need we should add asterisks and man-made exceptions to them. Nature gives us plenty of exceptions and grey areas already, thanks. Pluto, Ceres and Eris happen to exist in one of those grey areas for what our definition of planet was. As that definition changed with more research and work, they moved from being within the circle to outside of it, into another family called "dwarf planets." That's not a demotion or a bad thing, that's just a reclassification. They are still interesting and worth researching, and they still will be... but will be seen with a more accurate mental lens, since it will be known from the very outset that they meet certain criteria and do not meet others.
I am waiting with bated breath for Diogenes to find this thread.
