All Questions
12
questions
1
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0
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73
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How can I calculate the geocentric longitude of Pluto in a similar way to VSOP87's algorithm?
The book "Astronomical Algorithms" teaches a way to calculate the position of any of the planets for almost any date, until you get to Pluto.
To try to get around that, I attempted to ...
1
vote
1
answer
217
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Why does Wikipedia state that the Solar System has one unconfirmed planet?
I was looking at exoplanets on Wikipedia, and found this surprising information:
The table states that the Sun has 8 planets (obviously) and one unconfirmed planet. Why is this here? I think it's ...
-5
votes
1
answer
468
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Why was Pluto declassified as a planet? [closed]
I have been wondering this and the teachers at my high school never really gave me an answer. Please help, why was Pluto kicked out of the solar system?
2
votes
0
answers
77
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Abundance of penitente ice formations in the solar system
When researching for my question on extraterresitral snow, I learned about a rare snow formation called penitente which seems to be found on various (dwarf) planets, like Earth, Mars, and Pluto. ...
- 5,636
7
votes
4
answers
780
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What was the definition of a planet before August 24, 2006?
In 2006, the IAU produced a definition of what it is to be a planet. This definition famously excludes Pluto, to the disarray of this small body's fans.
Before this decision, what was the definition ...
- 17.6k
6
votes
5
answers
921
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Is the point of this paper to say that Pluto's status as a planet should have been handled scientifically, rather than by a vote?
The abstract of a paper currently in-press in Icarus: The Reclassification of Asteroids from Planets to Non-Planets (Metzger et al. 2018, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.icarus.2018.08.026) says:
It is ...
- 30.7k
4
votes
2
answers
25k
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Why are rocky and small planets nearer to the Sun whereas big, gas giants are farther?
Planets, including Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars are rocky planets and are small compared to gas giants. And all these planet are near to Sun. But mass is directly proportional to force. So why don'...
8
votes
2
answers
2k
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Is Pluto a "proto-planet"?
My question is this : could the Charon-Pluto system becomes in the coming few millions years a full fledged planet, as in the IAU classification ?
I ask this because there are two facts that bother ...
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1
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0
answers
60
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What are the requirements to become a planet? [duplicate]
A planet is taught to us (at primary school) as a ball of rock that orbits around the Sun and is similar to our own planet, Earth (in as a ball of rock). But of course, humans have to be more specific ...
- 1,083
10
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1
answer
321
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Pluto- Current theories regarding its geological nature?
The images of New Horizons from Pluto will take more a year to arrive from space, for the moment with have some compressed images as a preview.
Nasa has advanced some information regarding the ...
- 4,268
2
votes
0
answers
510
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How long will it take Pluto to grow to planet size? [duplicate]
Pretty much everything in our solar system has collisions with smaller objects that lead to an increase in the mass of the larger. With Pluto being one of the largest things in the area of which it ...
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16
votes
10
answers
3k
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Is Pluto still a dwarf planet?
Recent news seem to suggest that astronomers are arguing about whether Pluto should become a planet again.
However, I cannot find an official source for this. Is this actually true?
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