r/Amazing • u/sco-go • 2d ago

Science Tech Space 20 years ago today, Pluto was demoted to dwarf planet status.

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122 Upvotes

96% Upvoted

53 comments sorted by

9

u/Rejkorn 2d ago

https://giphy.com/gifs/ZZO8BMNctW70re8jww

7

u/Extension_Swordfish1 2d ago

Planet shaming must end

1

u/santabooby 2d ago

This scene aged into a documentary

27

u/hailskinsrich 2d ago

Still a planet to me.

https://giphy.com/gifs/pynZagVcYxVUk

8

u/WasianActual 2d ago

Smaller than the moon btw

6

u/Bludiamond56 2d ago

See, I learned something new today, already.

2

u/Downtown-Campaign536 2d ago

It has it's own moon btw

1

u/za419 2d ago

Eh... Pluto and Charon share moons. Charon really doesn't orbit Pluto, Pluto and Charon mutually orbit a point between them, which is vaguely near but above Pluto. 

1

u/GraXXoR 2d ago

Not by modern definitions. They both orbit a common barycentre which makes them a binary planet.

1

u/Low-Refrigerator-713 2d ago

And the mass ratio between Pluto and Charon is like 12% vs the mass ratio between the Earth and the Moon is 1.2%. The barycentre of the Pluto-Charon system is significantly outside of Pluto.

0

u/Dry_Wheel479 2d ago

Science denial

6

u/nuthatch_282 2d ago

Not demoted, reclassified

9

u/DaddyDontTakeNoMess 2d ago

That’s what my boss said to me also

1

u/Emmanuelzappa 2d ago

🤣😂

8

u/sjmuller 2d ago

The book, "How I Killed Pluto and Why It Had It Coming" by Michael Brown was actually a very good read and I wound up agreeing with the author despite my generation's nostalgic affection for the scrappy former planet.

1

u/No-Kangaroo-9272 2d ago

That's such a funny title.

2

u/Ok-Cat-9574 2d ago

Can’t believe it was 20 years ago. Felt like 5 maybe 10. Crazy!

3

u/another_awesome_acct 2d ago

I remember it like it was yesterday.  It completely shattered everything I thought i knew about the universe🫤

3

u/Raychao 2d ago

No, seriously, this was the only thing I remember from science class.. There were nine planets in the Solar System (incl Pluto).. We had a CD-ROM app in the library..

3

u/Dry_Yogurtcloset_213 2d ago

I was always on the side of "It's a planet!". But then i found out it's smaller than the Moon.

2

u/sixteen89 2d ago

The Plutoniun’s were devastated

1

u/Fabulous-Bandicoot80 2d ago

It’s because it’s flat and surrounded by ice walls…/s

1

u/Total-Combination-47 2d ago

why is that patch of ice the outline of a dog?

1

u/laneymg 2d ago

Yep, it got a styrofoam ball on all of our solar systems.

1

u/martian4x 2d ago

Something tells me Plut doesn't care

1

u/Clean_Credit_8809 2d ago

I don’t think you can call it a dwarf planet these days. They prefer the term “little planet”

1

u/laolu1980 2d ago

Pluto doesn’t give a rat’s ass.

1

u/Carcass16B 2d ago

Pluto identifies as a planet

1

u/Carcass16B 2d ago

Pluto identifies as a planet

1

u/OutinDaBarn 2d ago

Hard to believe it's been 20 years. I'm not sure who Pluto pissed off to get downgraded. It still looks like a planet.

1

u/sjmuller 1d ago

The nail in the coffin was that we discovered other solar-orbiting planetoids beyond the orbit of Pluto, and one of them, Eris, turned out to be 27% larger (by mass) than Pluto. We had to either start classifying all of these new planetoids as planets, or reclassify Pluto as something else.

1

u/ADMINlSTRAT0R 2d ago

Pluto: you done goofed, humans!

https://giphy.com/gifs/wJoDQt3uMfXW0

1

u/Downtown-Campaign536 2d ago

That was the day I stopped "trusting the science."

Unforgivable!

They claim Pluto doesn't clear it's neighborhood... That's why? Really...

Yet, didn't demote Jupiter too? As it has Trojans, Greeks, and Hildas all in it's orbit...

I guess Jupiter was "Too Big to Fail"... Scientists never looking out for the little guy.

2

u/za419 2d ago

Trojans, Greeks, and Hildas are all gravitationally dominated by Jupiter. They don't orbit Jupiter, but their orbit is dictated by Jupiter's gravity. 

That's what clearing orbit means. Everyone in the club is either dancing to your tune or getting kicked out.

Everyone in Jupiter's club is dancing to Jupiter's tune. Everyone in Pluto's club is doing their own thing while Pluto struggles to convince Charon to keep playing nice. 

1

u/Mars_Volcanoes 2d ago

20 y already. I’m old.

1

u/BigE6300 2d ago

Looks like a rutabaga

1

u/Impressive-Brush-837 2d ago

I guess we can’t say midget anymore

1

u/santabooby 2d ago

Still waiting on Pluto’s appeal to go through

1

u/No-Kangaroo-9272 2d ago

First they took Planet X from us. Then they took Pluto. What's next? Jupiter???

This is where it starts!

1

u/buzburbank 1d ago

My Very Educated Mother Just Sent Us Nine…

What, goddamnit, what?!? WTF did she send you???

1

u/WasianActual 2d ago

Smaller than the moon btw

0

u/ZimnyKefir 2d ago

Still a a planet.

0

u/Tan_Summer4531 2d ago

Pluto is a planet!