Pluto, now plutoid

2008/09/01 Elhuyar Zientzia Iturria: Elhuyar aldizkaria

• Astronomia

It seems that astronomers cannot leave Pluto alone. Just two years ago, the International Astronomers Union abandoned the category of planets and declared the dwarf planet. And now he has created a new category within the dwarf planets: plutoids. They say that the bodies that revolve around the Sun are plutoids, in orbit greater than Neptune. With sufficient mass (and force of gravity) to maintain the circular appearance and with other bodies in its orbit. That is, plutoids are bodies of similar characteristics to those of Pluto.

At the moment they know two plutoids: Pluto himself, of course, and Eris. The third dwarf planet they know, Ceres, is not a plutoid, since, although it seems to others, it rotates between Mars and Jupiter.

When they entered between the dwarf planets, there was a debate among astronomers and now it has also emerged. Some astronomers believe that it does not bring anything new to make such classifications. For example, Alan Stern, principal investigator of the New Horizons mission that NASA sent to study Pluto, has stated that the name “hemorrhoids” would be as useful as plutoid, since both would be names of an empty classification.