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Pluto, the solar system object, everyone loves to fight about.
Credit: NASA / Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory / Southwest Research Institute
Scientists have spent 12 years arguing over how to classify Pluto, and a recent publication by a new – but surprisingly old – reason for restoring the object 's planetary status.
The 200s of scientific literature. Four scientists trawled through astronomy papers published since 1802 looking for instances of the word planet as used by the controversial 2006 verdict from the International Astronomical Union (IAU) that reclassified Pluto as a dwarf planet. This group is responsible for handling astronomical nomenclature. The definition included the requirement that their planets "clear" their orbit, making them gravitational big shots in their neighborhoods.
"We now have a list of more recent examples of planetary scientists using the word planet in a way that violates the IAU definition, but they are doing it because it's functionally useful," lead author Philip Metzger, a planetary scientist at the University of Central Florida, said in a statement released by the university. [Welcome Back, Pluto? Planethood Debate Reignites]
The new research focuses on how scientists have been dealing with asteroids. This term was used interchangeably with "small planets" or even just "planets" up until the early 1950s, the investigators found.
The authors argued that the IAU's definition, which the group voted on during its annual conference in 2006, attempts to override long historical usage in the community. "We recommend that, regarding planetary taxonomy, central bodies such as the IAU do not resort to voting to create the illusion of scientific consensus," the authors wrote. "The IAU has done damage to the public perception of science, which is a process of free from centrally dictated authority, in its imposition of a definition of planet and the number of planets fitting that definition, which has been instilled in educational textbooks around the world on the basis of their authority. "
(The authors did not comment on the fact that there was much of a plane in the history of scientific discourse, up to and including the sun.)
The definition must be made that it is orbit the sun, it must be massive enough that its gravity pulls it is more or less a spherical shape, and it must clear the neighborhood around its orbit. Metzger and his co-authors argue that the third piece of science should not be revoked.
Pluto you may have seen.
"I know you were not convinced by our first 78 arguments, but what about this one?", Said one of the Exact Same Dudes. pic.twitter.com/z4yHTG9CTr
– Mike Brown (@plutokiller) September 7, 2018
Neither of the two scientists who are spearheaded the 2006 demotion are particularly impressed by the new paper. Planetary scientist Mike Brown of Caltech, who has embraced his role in the debate so that he is able to find a way to make it easier. (He also referred to the fact that his Pluto-nomenclature nemesis, Alan Stern, principal investigator of the New Horizons mission, co-authored the new paper.) [Pluto Flyby Anniversary: The Most Amazing Photos from NASA’s New Horizons]
Brown's planet-murdering research partner, Konstantin Batygin, also of Caltech, echoed many other scientists in an inquiry for an end to the bickering. "These quantities are what's important, not what we call them," he wrote on Twitter.
Reclassifying Pluto as a planet is akin to calling an island a continent-kinda silly. But in the end, let's remember that astrophysical bodies are characterized by mass, radius, orbit, etc. These quantities are what's important, what we call them. https://t.co/oU69A7v9QP
– Konstantin Batygin (@kbatygin) September 7, 2018
Metzger disagreed, arguing that terminology is important, especially for the most prestigious group of objects in our solar system. "The IAU definition would say that the fundamental object of planetary science, the planet, is supposed to be defined on the basis of a concept that nobody uses in their research," he said in the statement. "It would leave the second-most complex, interesting planet in our solar system."
His later comments made clear he would classify Earth as the most complex planet in our solar system. But it's hard to believe that it's a scientist focused on a more compelling reason for it, rather than Pluto, second-place reserves billing – yet Metzger judged Pluto as "more dynamic and alive than Mars. "
The research is described in an article published Aug. 29 in the newspaper Icarus.
Meghan Bartels at [email protected] or follow her @meghanbartels. Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook and Google+. Original article on Space.com.
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