Pluto is not a planet, they thought that if Pluto could be classed as a planet, there would be hundreds of other similar dwarf planets, but they aren’t proper planets, so instead of bringing loads more planets in, it would just be easier to class it as a dwarf planet. It is too small to be a real planet. But, it orbits the sun, not Neptune. It goes inside the orbit of Neptune but it isn’t a moon of Neptune. Hope this helps 🙂
Great answers, Ki! You certainly know your stuff and could be on ‘I’m A Scientist’ one day!
You’re right: Pluto is too small to be a planet and isn’t any more interesting than lots of other big rocks. In fact Pluto’s biggest moon, Charon, isn’t much smaller than Pluto itself, so Pluto can’t really be called a planet 🙁 Despite that, the New Horizons spacecraft visited there recently and found out that Pluto’s got lots of interesting geology – including a big heart!
Pluto is not a moon for Neptune. Pluto doesn’t orbit Neptune. It orbits the Sun. Pluto is a moon for the Sun, just as Neptune is.
What makes a planet and what makes a minor planet and what makes an astroid is just a human convention. It’s not a law of nature. From the law of nature, the smallest piece of dust and the larger asteroid and the larger planets are just one and the same thing: rocks of different sizes that orbit the Sun.
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anon-106860 commented on :
Pluto is not a planet, they thought that if Pluto could be classed as a planet, there would be hundreds of other similar dwarf planets, but they aren’t proper planets, so instead of bringing loads more planets in, it would just be easier to class it as a dwarf planet. It is too small to be a real planet. But, it orbits the sun, not Neptune. It goes inside the orbit of Neptune but it isn’t a moon of Neptune. Hope this helps 🙂
anon-106860 commented on :
And there are actually 109 planets in the solar system according to the actual definition, but it’s a lot easier to just count our 8 🙂
Scott commented on :
Great answers, Ki! You certainly know your stuff and could be on ‘I’m A Scientist’ one day!
You’re right: Pluto is too small to be a planet and isn’t any more interesting than lots of other big rocks. In fact Pluto’s biggest moon, Charon, isn’t much smaller than Pluto itself, so Pluto can’t really be called a planet 🙁 Despite that, the New Horizons spacecraft visited there recently and found out that Pluto’s got lots of interesting geology – including a big heart!
Adrian commented on :
Pluto is not a moon for Neptune. Pluto doesn’t orbit Neptune. It orbits the Sun. Pluto is a moon for the Sun, just as Neptune is.
What makes a planet and what makes a minor planet and what makes an astroid is just a human convention. It’s not a law of nature. From the law of nature, the smallest piece of dust and the larger asteroid and the larger planets are just one and the same thing: rocks of different sizes that orbit the Sun.