Researchers are doing their best to restore the planetary stature of Pluto, being called a planet again. Approximately ten years ago, the dwarf planet was ejected from its place among the rest of the planets. This distant and icy planet was discovered about 75 years ago, and it was considered a neighbor for Uranus, Saturn, and Jupiter. However, one day its name vanished.
- The planetary stature of planet Pluto is bound to be restored by some researchers.
- They are still investigating the matter, claiming that Pluto owns its planetary title.
- The dwarf icy planet has Earth-like features.
Kirby Runyon, a scientist at the Johns Hopkins University, is struggling to restore the planet’s lost title by saying that usually, people like to preserve the idea of it being an outsider, an icy dwarf planet. Runyon together with other planetary researchers has launched the theory that Pluto, which is currently known as a dwarf planet, should have restored its initial title of planet.
Moreover, researchers argue that Pluto would not be the only planet which should be promoted to a higher planetary stature. If scientists were to apply the definition of planet for Pluto, then they should call Terra’s moon a planet, too. Thus, they will also be forced to offer the title of a planet for 110 other cosmic objects. Nevertheless, scientists will discuss this problem this week during the Lunar and Planetary Science Conference in Texas.
Runyon, who is a doctoral candidate in planetary geology, has recently trudged into a debate, arguing with the biggest name from the field of astronomy. Mike Brown, who is an astronomer at the California Institute of Technology and a planet hunter, stated that all these discussions only represent a nostalgia Pluto which is masked by science. He had also written the book on Pluto’s ouster which is called “How I Killed Pluto and Why It Had It Coming.”
Brown claimed that astronomers who love this icy planet believe that this is their shot. The popularity of Pluto increased in the summer of 2015 after a NASA spaceship revealed cliffs, canyons, clouds and ice mountains on Pluto. Those captures had also unveiled the existence of volcanoes. All admirer who was part of the public were asked to come up with suggestions regarding mythology-related names for all these Earth-like features.
Neil deGrasse Tyson, an astrophysicist and also the director of Hayden Planetarium in New York City, claimed that this planet, no matter how hard some scientists may try, it will remain a dwarf planet, irrespective of researchers’ effort.
Image courtesy of: wikipedia
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.