My dwarf is bigger than your dwarf

[Loren Booda]

It's time to spread the word that the less massive dwarf planet in our solar system is Ceres, while the more massive dwarf planet in our solar system is Pluto. It was recent news to me at least.

Please see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ceres_%28dwarf_planet%29" .

 

[russ_watters]

Huh?

...

 

[ideasrule]

Um, that was known since at least the discovery of Pluto.

 

[Loren Booda]

My oversight. I meant - to some extent - telling laypeople, high school and liberal arts students, amateur astronomers, etc, that Ceres is "the other" dwarf planet.

My guess is, though, that a poll at PF asking how Ceres is categorized would not be answered correctly by a considerable majority.

 

[Arch2008]

Actually to be exact, Pluto is a plutoid (along with Eris and some other named TNO’s), but Ceres is just a dwarf planet:
http://www.iau.org/public_press/news/detail/iau0804/

 

[Loren Booda]

Thanks greatly, Arch2008. Where have I been?

 

[Arch2008]

You’re most welcome! The whole situation is confusing. Some people at the IAU had been trying to eliminate Pluto from the list of planets for decades. When Eris turned out to be larger than Pluto, they used this as an excuse to do Pluto in. A new group of “dwarf planets” was created. However, since a human dwarf is still a human and a dwarf galaxy is still a galaxy the result was inconclusive for most of us. Pluto was still a planet. So the even newer term “plutoid” was apparently fabricated to settle the matter of Pluto’s fate once and for all. And they call it science.

 

[jobyts]

What's the motivation for the people to push to make Pluto a planet? Any Plutonian lobbying?

 

[Vanadium 50]

It's time to spread the word that the less massive dwarf planet in our solar system is Ceres, while the more massive dwarf planet in our solar system is Pluto.

Are you implying that there are only two dwarf planets in our solar system? There are five: Ceres, Pluto, Haumea, Makemake and Eris. There are about a dozen more good candidates.

 

[Loren Booda]

Are you implying that there are only two dwarf planets in our solar system? There are five: Ceres, Pluto, Haumea, Makemake and Eris. There are about a dozen more good candidates.

They're enough to make my head precess! Are they running out of Greco-Roman names? It's a small world after all.