Absolute size isn’t really in the criteria for a planet though. Pluto isn’t a planet because it shares its orbit with lots of other icy bodies in the Kuiper belt.
toast@retrolemmy.com
on 12 Aug 2024 09:39
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Exactly. That’s also why Jupiter, which shares its orbit with thousands of asteroids, isn’t a planet either.
Do you mean the Trojans? They’re excluded from the mass calculation of ‘clearing the neighbourhood’ because they’re in a resonant orbit - their orbit is a consequence of Jupiter’s mass.
toast@retrolemmy.com
on 12 Aug 2024 11:02
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I don’t know. I don’t think we should make excuses for Jupiter just because of its size. Pluto’s doing the best it can. Could any of us do any better, so far out from the sun?
youngalfred@lemm.ee
on 12 Aug 2024 11:15
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Jupiter does throw its weight around a bit too much.
toast@retrolemmy.com
on 12 Aug 2024 11:42
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Thanks to your comments, I went looking at more about Jupiter’s influence on us and read that most of the other planets are more in line with Jupiter’s orbital plane than the Sun’s equatorial plane (which sounds impressive, but maybe only makes complete sense since the planets would have all initially formed from the same disk). Anyway, thanks
That’s really interesting!
I just discovered a theory about the cause of the ‘late heavy bombardment’, which is thought to have delivered water to earth via comets.
Essentially the gas giants all orbited much closer, but Jupiter and Saturn got into resonance and flung Uranus and Neptune way out (and Saturn too). Uranus and Neptune flew out into the path of a heap of ice, and their gravity pulled the ice into an orbit that collided with the terrestrial planets.
leftzero@lemmynsfw.com
on 12 Aug 2024 17:25
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No kidding. The Sun - Jupiter barycentre is outside the Sun.
Murdoc@sh.itjust.works
on 12 Aug 2024 18:16
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Jupiter was declared too big to fail.
Annoyed_Crabby@monyet.cc
on 12 Aug 2024 09:14
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Still can’t unsee Pluto(the dog) on Pluto
Novamdomum@kbin.run
on 12 Aug 2024 09:57
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Take that King Flippy Nips!
lemonmelon@lemmy.world
on 12 Aug 2024 10:12
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What is this, a planet for ants?!
dodgy_bagel@lemmy.blahaj.zone
on 12 Aug 2024 12:03
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It’s a close-up shot; the planet in this photo is actually much bigger than Australia.
Still, the surface area is much bigger. Pluto is a real continent
Uebercomplicated@lemmy.ml
on 12 Aug 2024 11:02
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Discreetly insulting both Australia and Pluto in one sentence! Absolutely love this; will share it with all my Australia and Plutonian friends! If Earth gets attacked, it’s not my fault, but yours :'P
NigelFrobisher@aussie.zone
on 12 Aug 2024 13:01
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If Australia attacks Earth you’ll know you’ve been attacked.
Stop posting pictures of my family, they are very shy!!!
Numenor@lemmy.world
on 12 Aug 2024 12:08
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Do it.
CM400@lemmy.world
on 12 Aug 2024 12:45
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Wow, Pluto has approximately the same surface area as Russia
HootinNHollerin@lemmy.world
on 12 Aug 2024 14:46
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And now putin starts pumping out propaganda that pluto used to be russian
intensely_human@lemm.ee
on 12 Aug 2024 13:51
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That’s an avocado pit and you know it
mindbleach@sh.itjust.works
on 12 Aug 2024 14:11
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The Alice Springs Pluto Observatory has opened considerably under-budget.
cosmicrose@lemmy.world
on 12 Aug 2024 14:21
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This picture is inaccurate, Pluto is actually much farther away.
mindbleach@sh.itjust.works
on 12 Aug 2024 17:32
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Telephoto shot, using a 1e50 mm lens.
Swedneck@discuss.tchncs.de
on 12 Aug 2024 17:55
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if anyone wants to do the math, how far away from the sun would the camera have needed to be to take such a photo?
mindbleach@sh.itjust.works
on 12 Aug 2024 19:04
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Apparent scale is inverse linear, i.e., proportional to 1 / distance. If we want the apparent scale of two objects to be about 90% accurate to their actual relative scale, their relative distances to the camera can’t be more than 10% different. Pluto being 40-ish astronomical from Earth, you’d want to shoot from about 400 AU. Voyager I should be in prime position circa 2140.
lolcatnip@reddthat.com
on 12 Aug 2024 19:47
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Probably not necessary to use a lens so long it can reach distant galaxies!
Even more amazing that it was found in the era it was. People were pouring over the skies looking for the next big planet, and instead they found this little guy.
There are still some orbital dynamics suggestions that something large and dark is lurking out there – an ice giant. But it’s still largely conjecture. It’d be interesting to see how they define it should they find something very large (say Neptune mass), but it hasn’t cleared its orbit. Is it a planet or not? :D
Actually 🤓 it was James Cook who found Australia and he didn’t go there by ski but by ship and he didn’t find one little guy but exterminated a whole indigenous population
Buddahriffic@lemmy.world
on 12 Aug 2024 19:24
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They only found it because it’s more like a binary dwarf planet system than a planet/moon system, so the telescopes were able to pick up light reflected from both Pluto and Charron, while Pluto alone might have not been bright enough.
When they came for Pluto, I said nothing because I wasn’t a planet
When they came for Australia, I said nothing because I wasn’t a continent
When they came for Bielefeld, I said nothing because I wasn’t a city
When they came for me, there was no one left to say anything
– Martin Niemöller
Burn_The_Right@lemmy.world
on 12 Aug 2024 17:24
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So… Does this mean Australia is no longer a continent?
Murdoc@sh.itjust.works
on 12 Aug 2024 18:10
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Dwarf continent
Buddahriffic@lemmy.world
on 12 Aug 2024 19:21
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If that photo was taken right before impact, none of the continents will remain continents because it’s all about to melt and we might have another moon when everything settles down and we evolve back from scratch over the next several billion years.
Burn_The_Right@lemmy.world
on 13 Aug 2024 02:51
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The only survivors would be Australia’s infamous Magma Spiders.
P00ptart@lemmy.world
on 13 Aug 2024 08:38
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Just in time to get baked by the sun!
lolcatnip@reddthat.com
on 12 Aug 2024 19:47
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Or does it mean Australia is a planet?
Burn_The_Right@lemmy.world
on 13 Aug 2024 02:50
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I’m sure the rest of the world would agree!
jol@discuss.tchncs.de
on 13 Aug 2024 05:37
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Australia would have to round up its edges and clear it’s orbit of little islands before being called a planet.
Iheartcheese@lemmy.world
on 13 Aug 2024 06:38
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Mostly just a cunt
faceula@lemmy.world
on 12 Aug 2024 19:52
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Sand Mass?
Landless2029@lemmy.world
on 13 Aug 2024 11:09
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I saw him in my mates house the other day kissing a mirror? He said he is the only person he can kiss in the mirror or something.
grrgyle@slrpnk.net
on 12 Aug 2024 22:41
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No way!
niktemadur@lemmy.world
on 13 Aug 2024 05:49
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I’m digging the way the map shows Tasmania as part of the continental plate.
Piemanding@sh.itjust.works
on 13 Aug 2024 06:19
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Is it on purpose or is it because of ocean depth?
niktemadur@lemmy.world
on 13 Aug 2024 06:26
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The light blue part is shallow and when it’s underwater, they call it “continental shelf”.
Tasmania and mainland Australia are connected by the same, shared continental shelf.
MonkderVierte@lemmy.ml
on 13 Aug 2024 07:27
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TIL australia has hydrostatic equilibrium.
captain_aggravated@sh.itjust.works
on 13 Aug 2024 07:46
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Meanwhile, Australia is down there like “WTF mate?”
milicent_bystandr@lemm.ee
on 13 Aug 2024 08:54
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Nah, no one likes lives in that part of Australia. Pluto sitting there just means drivers from Perth to Sydney have to take a little detour.
captain_aggravated@sh.itjust.works
on 13 Aug 2024 09:08
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I mean, I’m pretty sure you’d be able to see it from everywhere in Australia, so I bet many of them would be like “WTF?” But they’ll be dead soon. Fuckin’ kangaroos.
TonyOstrich@lemmy.world
on 13 Aug 2024 09:10
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Fucking kangaroos
Etterra@lemmy.world
on 13 Aug 2024 11:34
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That’s awesome. And to think, it’s only slightly less inhospitable in Australia!
Freefall@lemmy.world
on 13 Aug 2024 11:53
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In future news; Donald X Musk III, worlds first quintillionare, decided to alter Pluto’s orbit to collide with Mars “Becauth it would be thoo cool!”.
Pyr_Pressure@lemmy.ca
on 13 Aug 2024 15:15
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I can see why they no longer call it a planet, what’s the cutoff for asteroid size?
johannesvanderwhales@lemmy.world
on 13 Aug 2024 17:07
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It is still a dwarf planet. Basically when it hits hydrostatic equilibrium, i.e. when it’s round, it is considered a dwarf planet. More here
threaded - newest
And thats why you’ll never be a real planet!
Heresy! Australia will always be a planet.
No! Austria will never be a planet nor continent. It is a white, European country and I’m willing to die on that hill!
Absolute size isn’t really in the criteria for a planet though. Pluto isn’t a planet because it shares its orbit with lots of other icy bodies in the Kuiper belt.
Exactly. That’s also why Jupiter, which shares its orbit with thousands of asteroids, isn’t a planet either.
Do you mean the Trojans? They’re excluded from the mass calculation of ‘clearing the neighbourhood’ because they’re in a resonant orbit - their orbit is a consequence of Jupiter’s mass.
I don’t know. I don’t think we should make excuses for Jupiter just because of its size. Pluto’s doing the best it can. Could any of us do any better, so far out from the sun?
Jupiter does throw its weight around a bit too much.
Thanks to your comments, I went looking at more about Jupiter’s influence on us and read that most of the other planets are more in line with Jupiter’s orbital plane than the Sun’s equatorial plane (which sounds impressive, but maybe only makes complete sense since the planets would have all initially formed from the same disk). Anyway, thanks
That’s really interesting!
I just discovered a theory about the cause of the ‘late heavy bombardment’, which is thought to have delivered water to earth via comets.
Essentially the gas giants all orbited much closer, but Jupiter and Saturn got into resonance and flung Uranus and Neptune way out (and Saturn too). Uranus and Neptune flew out into the path of a heap of ice, and their gravity pulled the ice into an orbit that collided with the terrestrial planets.
No kidding. The Sun - Jupiter barycentre is outside the Sun.
Jupiter was declared too big to fail.
Still can’t unsee Pluto(the dog) on Pluto
Take that King Flippy Nips!
What is this, a planet for ants?!
It’s a close-up shot; the planet in this photo is actually much bigger than Australia.
Then again it could be super close and the size of a potato.
Potatoes aren’t usually blue
They are if they are moving towards you really fast!
Imagine hitting that fast ball
Extremely venomous ants.
Hey wtf put Pluto back to where it belongs. Do you have any idea how bad this is for the world economics???
Would the owner of a beige 1930 dwarf planet please move it, or we will have it towed.
I think a TARDIS can do that.
Still, the surface area is much bigger. Pluto is a real continent
Discreetly insulting both Australia and Pluto in one sentence! Absolutely love this; will share it with all my Australia and Plutonian friends! If Earth gets attacked, it’s not my fault, but yours :'P
If Australia attacks Earth you’ll know you’ve been attacked.
Australians can’t attack Earth, they’d fall right up into the sky without some reverse-reverse-gravity system.
Small little fucker, no wonder it’s not a planet anymore.
Straya’s never been a planet, mate.
Yeah, but it is a pretty big island.
Might as well have been. 😉
What is Pluto doing so close to Australia?
That shouldn’t be allowed. Someone tell it to go back to it’s usual orbit, this is not on.
You didn’t know they had a thing? It lasted until Australia found out Pluto wasn’t really a planet.
Fuck off Pluto, we’re full!
It’s their payback for that whole “clears its orbit” business.
They’re using it to cool up Australia
Honestly never had a clue. Thanks for the share.
As a former Plutonian, I can confirm it's small, that's why we immigrated to Earth. And fucking cold!
<img alt="" src="https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/rickandmorty/images/3/3c/S1e9_plutonian_morty.png/revision/latest?cb=20160918042802">
Stop posting pictures of my family, they are very shy!!!
Do it.
Wow, Pluto has approximately the same surface area as Russia
And now putin starts pumping out propaganda that pluto used to be russian
That’s an avocado pit and you know it
The Alice Springs Pluto Observatory has opened considerably under-budget.
This picture is inaccurate, Pluto is actually much farther away.
Telephoto shot, using a 1e50 mm lens.
if anyone wants to do the math, how far away from the sun would the camera have needed to be to take such a photo?
Apparent scale is inverse linear, i.e., proportional to 1 / distance. If we want the apparent scale of two objects to be about 90% accurate to their actual relative scale, their relative distances to the camera can’t be more than 10% different. Pluto being 40-ish astronomical from Earth, you’d want to shoot from about 400 AU. Voyager I should be in prime position circa 2140.
Probably not necessary to use a lens so long it can reach distant galaxies!
No it’s just really small
<img alt="" src="https://feddit.uk/pictrs/image/cc40b02e-a887-4209-9c91-421d4faca555.webp">
No shit? Wow, it’s amazing that we were even able to find it.
Even more amazing that it was found in the era it was. People were pouring over the skies looking for the next big planet, and instead they found this little guy.
There are still some orbital dynamics suggestions that something large and dark is lurking out there – an ice giant. But it’s still largely conjecture. It’d be interesting to see how they define it should they find something very large (say Neptune mass), but it hasn’t cleared its orbit. Is it a planet or not? :D
Actually 🤓 it was James Cook who found Australia and he didn’t go there by ski but by ship and he didn’t find one little guy but exterminated a whole indigenous population
Ah shit, a switcheroo!
They only found it because it’s more like a binary dwarf planet system than a planet/moon system, so the telescopes were able to pick up light reflected from both Pluto and Charron, while Pluto alone might have not been bright enough.
Pluto is still a sphere, this is an unfair comparison because Pluto hasn’t been unwrapped
It’s actually 4π*(0.5*(length-of-australia))^2 bigger than that.
.
Fun fact: the surface area of Pluto is only about 4% larger than Russia.
So thats why Russia wanted to expand
Pluto unboxing video.
I have this Tshirt
<img alt="" src="https://lemmy.ca/pictrs/image/0d7c2700-1e4d-46c9-98a1-ca2a335656f0.png">
I get groans
First they came for Pluto’s planethood.
Next they’re coming for Australia’s continenthood.
– Martin Niemöller
So… Does this mean Australia is no longer a continent?
Dwarf continent
If that photo was taken right before impact, none of the continents will remain continents because it’s all about to melt and we might have another moon when everything settles down and we evolve back from scratch over the next several billion years.
The only survivors would be Australia’s infamous Magma Spiders.
Just in time to get baked by the sun!
Or does it mean Australia is a planet?
I’m sure the rest of the world would agree!
Australia would have to round up its edges and clear it’s orbit of little islands before being called a planet.
Mostly just a cunt
Sand Mass?
Seems like it amounts to a gas giant down under.
It never was. The concept of Australis is part of spherical world order.
Do you really think a Platypus is a real animal? A mammal that let’s eggs and has bioluminescent fur. Get the fuck outta here.
introscene for the next mecha anime confirmed
Is Neil deGrasse Tyson hiding somewhere in Australia?!
I saw him in my mates house the other day kissing a mirror? He said he is the only person he can kiss in the mirror or something.
No way!
I’m digging the way the map shows Tasmania as part of the continental plate.
Is it on purpose or is it because of ocean depth?
The light blue part is shallow and when it’s underwater, they call it “continental shelf”.
Tasmania and mainland Australia are connected by the same, shared continental shelf.
TIL australia has hydrostatic equilibrium.
Meanwhile, Australia is down there like “WTF mate?”
Nah, no one likes lives in that part of Australia. Pluto sitting there just means drivers from Perth to Sydney have to take a little detour.
I mean, I’m pretty sure you’d be able to see it from everywhere in Australia, so I bet many of them would be like “WTF?” But they’ll be dead soon. Fuckin’ kangaroos.
Fucking kangaroos
That’s awesome. And to think, it’s only slightly less inhospitable in Australia!
In future news; Donald X Musk III, worlds first quintillionare, decided to alter Pluto’s orbit to collide with Mars “Becauth it would be thoo cool!”.
I can see why they no longer call it a planet, what’s the cutoff for asteroid size?
It is still a dwarf planet. Basically when it hits hydrostatic equilibrium, i.e. when it’s round, it is considered a dwarf planet. More here