Pluto is NOT an asteroid. It is a planet. Unlike most objects in the Kuiper Belt, it has attained hydrostatic equilibrium, meaning it has enough self-gravity to have pulled itself into a round shape. When an object is large enough for this to happen, it becomes differentiated with core, mantle, and crust, just like Earth and the larger planets, and develops the same geological processes as the larger planets, processes that inert asteroids and most KBOs do not have.
Not distinguishing between shapeless asteroids and objects whose composition clearly makes them planets is a disservice and is sloppy science.
Tyson is not a planetary scientist, and he is wrong about Pluto. You can find a petition of planetary astronomers who oppose Pluto's demotion here: http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/planetprotest/
Thanks, I'm happy to hear that. I watched the interview online and then realized that the "asteroids" part referred to the second topic in his interview, the possibility of an asteroid hitting the Earth (that seems to be one of his all time favorite topics).
3 comments:
Pluto is NOT an asteroid. It is a planet. Unlike most objects in the Kuiper Belt, it has attained hydrostatic equilibrium, meaning it has enough self-gravity to have pulled itself into a round shape. When an object is large enough for this to happen, it becomes differentiated with core, mantle, and crust, just like Earth and the larger planets, and develops the same geological processes as the larger planets, processes that inert asteroids and most KBOs do not have.
Not distinguishing between shapeless asteroids and objects whose composition clearly makes them planets is a disservice and is sloppy science.
Tyson is not a planetary scientist, and he is wrong about Pluto. You can find a petition of planetary astronomers who oppose Pluto's demotion here:
http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/planetprotest/
I apologize if I implied that Pluto was an asteroid, that was not my intention.
Thanks, I'm happy to hear that. I watched the interview online and then realized that the "asteroids" part referred to the second topic in his interview, the possibility of an asteroid hitting the Earth (that seems to be one of his all time favorite topics).
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